The Marston Gang (Discontinued for now)
by calebshane1219
Summary: Jack Marston has formed a gang one year after taking redemption against Edgar Ross. He seeks to finally get a well earned retirement to the island of Tahiti, multiple hardships come the gang's way. It doesn't seem so easy anymore... (Rated M for: Strong profanity, offensive language, graphic violence)
1. Jack the Brawler

(The Marston Gang)

The year is 1915, exactly one year after Jack Marston achieved his redemption against Edgar Ross. The Marston boy is now twenty years old, he recalled a moment back when he was just a young toddler and in the Van Der Linde gang… _"I wanna be a gunslinger when I grow up…"_

(Prologue)

It was almost at midnight, Jack Marston would be returning home as he rode through Armadillo. The man of twenty years of age had stolen the home of Edgar and Emily Ross after slaying the man in whom had killed his father. It was fairly quiet when Jack was around, in a peaceful setting over by Lake Don Julio. Jack Marston had planned to leave the country and travel to Tahiti as what Dutch Van Der Linde had wanted to do, unfortunately, it never happened. Jack was curious to how life at Tahiti would be for him, he pictured a tropical paradise as Dutch described. The way the events would turn out, getting to Tahiti would be more difficult than imagined…

A man with a black shotgun coat and a dark colored paragon town hat, rode his way through the blackness of the night on his dark shire horse. He had traveled from out of state, coming in almost the same way Dutch and his gang did. He came from beyond the Grizzlies Mountains and the man hailed from Missouri, there was something of importance about this man. He had a gang of his own, known as the BlackJacks. The BlackJack gang was unfamiliar to the region, nobody further East of Missouri heard of the gang. In his satchel, he carried two sticks of dynamite and only an Evans Repeater with him.

Now, Jack Marston drew closer. Now starting to approach MacFarlane's Ranch, it was about three hundred meters away. Jack had the money in which John Marston had, back at Beecher's Hope. He would use this money to pay his way over to California and then set sail off towards Tahiti, where he would spend the rest of his days. It was a stormy night to make matters worse, unusual for the current time of year. Lightning flashed with a boom of thunder, casting the eerie shadow of Jack and his horse onto the ground.

Jack rode the Arabian horse, the best horse breed around. He had named the horse "Arthur" after one of the people he grew up with and a man he deemed "The best uncle ever" as a child, Jack found it unfortunate that Mr. Morgan passed away due to Tuberculosis. Yet Arthur Morgan passed away as he had wanted to, dying on a mountaintop while facing the sunrise. Jack had trained this Arabian horse ever since it was born, coincidentally though, as Arthur Morgan died once the sun risen, this horse was born as the sun was rising.

The man from Missouri had arrived at the home of Jack Marston, Beecher's Hope. The man looked around as lightning flashed, casting a silhouette of a tree uptop a hill in which wasn't too far away from where he stood. He observed the surroundings as the area known as Tall Trees, stood behind him. He noticed two crosses on a hill close to the house, he was curious and approached them.

"_John Marston...Abigail Marston." _The man said as he read the names on the crosses out loud, he noticed that there was only one lonely house all by itself in a valley in which was overlooked by a few medium sized hills.

There was a silo and a barn, including a few horses and sheep. The man thought to himself that this was Marston land, a wicked thought then came through his mind. He took the two sticks of dynamite and marched over towards the house.

"_This is BlackJack territory now." _The man said to himself as he kicked down the front door, he placed one stick bundle of dynamite into the fireplace, the fire wasn't lit up. He then walked out of the doors, the front doors, and looked all around. He watched as lightning flashed and listened as thunder roared in the sky.

Suddenly, lightning flashed on the ground somewhat close by. Igniting a fire as it struck a tree, tall grass had grown up quite a bit near to the house. The wind was picking up and almost knocked the hat off of the man, he walked over to the silo and placed the dynamite onto the front doors. The lightning had struck a tree about ten feet away from the silo, if the wind continued to blow. The fire would spread from the tree and all through the tall grass, eventually igniting the dynamite on the front doors of the silo. The newly formed fire caused by the explosion would result in the fires spreading more quickly, this would start to burn the house to pieces and thus it would ignite the dynamite within the house.

That would be the plan of the man, however, the fires weren't spreading as quick as he had imagined and wanted. So he shot the dynamite on the silo from afar, creating a loud explosive bang as a decent sized chunk was blown out of the bottom of the silo.

A fireball shot out of the bottom of the silo and it ate away at the tall grass, some of the fire reached out to the tree and it would speed up the process of burning it down. The wind blew viciously and the fires crawled from one tall blade of grass to another, this man the BlackJack leader smile, but he wasn't done yet. He marched towards the front doors of the house and looked inside, he took his Evans Repeater and aimed at the stick bundle of dynamite. Bang! The dynamite created a fireball in which destroyed the whole living room, the fire spread from the destroyed part of the house and ate its way into the kitchen. The man began to walk away now, he approached his Shire horse and hopped on. The horse was named "The Midnight Express," and the BlackJack leader ran away on the horse.

A couple of minutes later, Jack Marston had arrived. He seen a strange glow of a fiery ember from afar as he got closer and closer, now he stood up top the hill in which overlooked the whole ranch. His heart jumped into his throat once he saw his old home burning before his eyes, his whole house was engulfed in flames, and there was nothing he could do about it. Jack knew that the thunderstorm was bad this night but he knew lightning could not be the cause, his silo was on the edge of collapse and the house was an inferno. Something then came into his mind that enraged him.

"_The money. The damn money!" _Jack cried, he rushed down towards the house and he collapsed to his knees in pure shock. He placed his hands on his head and huffed out a couple of times, sounding like he was about to cry.

"_Shit!" _Jack exclaimed, all of the money he would use to get to California and then Tahiti was gone now. He began to ponder what he could do in order to get enough money, all roads of thought went to robbery.

His mother, Abigail, always scolded and admonished him for wanting to be like his father and to be like his old gang members in which he looked up to as aunts and uncles. He wanted to be like his hero, Arthur Morgan and to be like his father, John Marston. Jack loved his mother but he was determined to leave the country no matter the cost and against all oppositions.

Now Jack was not going to resort to crime just yet, he would be a brawler. He had heard of the fight scene over in Saint Denis, he figured he would fight his way up to the top to earn some money. Wasn't too much crime but he wanted to get it in any other way and then resort to fame to build up a gang of his own. He looked up at his horse, Arthur, on the hilltop and smiled.

"_Let's ride." _Jack said in a serious tone as he marched back up the hill and climbed onto the back of the Arabian horse. Arthur reared up and neighed loudly as Jack ushered him to ride out and down the path, the silhouette overlooking Beecher's Hope in the moonlight.

As for the other man, the leader of the BlackJack gang, he was making his way towards Blackwater. Now the BlackJacks was not a small gang, it was massive. You could probably consider it a small army, the FBI proved to be worthy against the massive gang and it caused them to move further East. Nobody followed them through the Grizzlies, the leader of the gang dispatched himself to travel across the mountains and make his way down into West Elizabeth to find some new land with the gang.

Nobody in West Elizabeth, New Austin, Lemoyne, and Ambarino, knew of the BlackJacks. Some folks have heard stories of them at the height of 1907 but none knew that they would show up in the territory East of the Grizzlies. Key leaders of the BlackJacks were: Douglas Mulligan, Nicholas Lanza, Gabriel Jordan, Audrey Heath, and Molly Belle, just to name a few. Douglas Mulligan was the chief leader and Nicholas Lanza was second in command of the gang. The gang was known for wearing all black clothing and always having dark colored horses, these horses were large and muscular like a Shire horse for example. The African American men and women in the gang wore dark clothing too and wore usually white or red bands on their clothing to distinguish them from the white men and women.

As a matter of fact, the African American members of the massive gang were more of stealth. Their dark colored skin and clothing made them well hidden in the night and they could camouflage themselves in dark spots in the forest or shrubbery. The BlackJacks had a simple but effective logo, it was an ace of spades with a skull in the center, the skull had a devious grin and had a black top hat and the top hat had a white band around the bottom with a red diamond in the center. A gang member would leave behind a card with the gang's logo on it after they had robbed a bank or done a deed.

The gang had no specification in whom they were, sometimes they robbed, sometimes they killed, sometimes they sided with police with disguises on, sometimes they acted as bounty hunters. Their unknown designation in society made them a mystery among the people, everybody knew where the Van Der Linde gang stood in society but the BlackJacks was a gang that nobody knew where they stood. Their impact would surely be felt over the course of the year..

(Chapter 1: Jack The Brawler)

A building had been made for brawling out in Saint Denis, it was once a warehouse back in 1899 when the Van Der Linde Gang was at the peak and the begin of the downfall. The warehouse was closed down in 1911 and it was reopened as a brawling arena, the undefeated champion was Bill Pierce and he came from Canada to escape from the harsh cold weather from up North. He was originally born in Texas, but he migrated North with his family. He stayed in Texas until he was at the age of nine years and he liked the warm weather and he disdained the cold.

Jack Marston had made it into Saint Denis after a decent ride from his home in West Elizabeth all over into the city, he walked amongst the streets on horseback and looked at every building. He remembered this area, he remembered being with Angelo Bronte as a small toddler and ever since he discovered that he was kidnapped for the wrong reasons, he never returned. However, Jack needed money and he wanted to travel out of America as it rapidly grew in terms of civilizations and society.

As Marston trotted down the streets on his horse, he heard a loud noise in which sounded like shattering glass. Jack quickly hitched his horse to a post nearby and made his way over to where he heard the noise from, after about one minute of walking. He noticed a window in which had been shattered to tiny shards of glass, a body was laying out on the sidewalk and was bleeding from where his head had been hit from the shards getting lodged in his head, the man was knocked out and Jack could hear lots of commotion from within the building. This place had to be the brawling pit.

Jack walked over towards the front doors and made his way inside, he could hear people cheering and screaming through the walls as he entered it. He looked up on the wall before him, there was a paper in which said "Undefeated Champion: Bill "Apex Predator" Pierce!" This brought a grin to his face. He wondered how much money he would earn if he broke the streak of Bill Pierce, he knew he would have to go up the ranks. He turned to the right and walked a couple of feet before entering a door, there was a bar to his left and restrooms to the right of him. At his front, was an oval shaped arena. It looked like the seating in total could hold around ninety people, the venue wasn't large at all. Wasn't even medium sized, the crowd was enjoying the show that the fighters were putting on though.

"_This night is a special night alright, who would like to step up and possibly become the champion of the Saint Denis fighting pit!?" _An announcer asked as he stepped into the middle of the fighting pit, Jack was quick to answer.

"_Hey!" _Jack called out, the crowd and the announcer looked at him for a few seconds. _"I am here to fight, I'll take on anyone!" _He continued to say, the whole crowd laughed. Jack didn't look like much of a fighter, he looked more like an outlaw with the way he was built and clothed.

"_Come on everyone, how about we give this unknown outlaw a chance?" _The announcer asked the crowd, Jack was infuriated by the nickname he was given.

"_I am no damn outlaw, I need the money to leave this place. To leave America, to escape the expanding government rule." _Jack retorted in a sharp tone of voice, getting the crowd and announcer to silence.

"_Well then, if money is what you want. You shall be called The Gambler." _The announcer said, Jack nodded his head and stepped into the pit, placing his hat on a nearby stand.

"_Your opponent will be Sam Taylor, a two year veteran." _The announcer explained quietly to him, Jack didn't like just one opponent. He wanted more.

"_Pardon me sir, but I want another opponent. I wanna raise the stakes." _Jack chimed in, the announcer looked baffled and he gave Jack an unimpressed scowl.

"_Well, the cocky shit is going to get what he wants. Enter, Sam Taylor, and Isaiah Brown!" _The announcer screamed in frustration, the two veteran fighters entered the arena through nearby double doors.

Jack balled up his fists, Sam Taylor seemed to have a sheep mask and Isaiah Brown was a tall and heavy set African American brute. The twenty year old gunslinger didn't have any idea of what he was doing, he would try his best. He shall do anything to get money. Sam Taylor rushed forth, trying to bring down Jack Marston. Jack quickly lunged to the side, Sam Taylor was quick and grasped onto the barricade. Isaiah Brown then charged, sending sand into the air slightly from his heavy footsteps.

Jack rushed at Isaiah, then sliding down between the big man's legs and coming out from behind him. Sam Taylor sprung off the barricade only to get caught by Brown, Jack was ready for whatever Brown was about to do. Isaiah Brown spun around, throwing Sam towards him.

Jack jumped back once he seen Sam fly off of Brown's arms, Sam Taylor crashed into the ground with a thud and a grunt of slight pain could be heard. Jack decided to strike and he kicked Sam in the side of the head like a punt kick, the kick broke through the sheep mask and hit Sam Taylor on his forehead pretty hard.

Sam growled in pain once the boot of Jack Marston connected with his forehead, Isaiah seen that Sam had missed the target. The brute growled and charged towards Jack, Jack took a step beside of Sam Taylor and that made Isaiah Brown trip over the body of the fighting veteran of two years. The crowd was booing Jack Marston so far, some were impressed with him. The announcer stood over by the stand in which Jack had placed his hat on.

"_Get off me lardass!" _Sam shouted at Isaiah as he went to crawl out from underneath the big man, Jack remained serious and took a few steps back. Keeping his guard raised and his eyes locked on the two downed fighters.

Sam popped out from underneath Isaiah, and quickly got back to his feet. Jack kicked at the ground and towards Isaiah's head, sand got into the overweight fighter's eyes, and caused him to roll on the ground in pain. Isaiah clawed and rubbed at his eyes viciously, trying to ease the pain in some sort of way. Jack started to feel confident in himself now.

"_That's one down!" _Jack screamed out in confidence, Sam Taylor snarled and charged. Springing over the downed body of Isaiah Brown and trying to do a crossbody takedown. Jack started to fall back and Sam Taylor was caught into a fallaway slam wrestling move, Sam was sent flying to the other side of the pit and into the barricade.

"_Damn, he's good for a rookie." _Sam growled to himself as he slowly got to his feet, placing one arm on his ribs in favor of the pain. Jack decided to not waste any time and bound towards Sam, he sent a jab towards the side of Sam's skull.

Sam's head jerked to the side and he let out a yelp of pain, he was hunched over and leaning into the barricade. Jack tried to grapple with Sam and drive his head into the ground with a DDT, the young gunslinger managed to get one arm hooked around the head and neck of Sam Taylor. The lamb masked fighter would not back down easily as he slammed his fists into the gut of Jack Marston three times in a row, Jack was forced to let go for now. Jack placed one hand on his gut before a fist slammed into his jaw, causing him to stagger backwards a few steps.

"_Shit…" _Jack groaned as he then grabbed his jaw in pain, Sam sprung off the barricade and was successful in downing Jack with a crossbody takedown.

For a moment, Jack didn't know where he was, but then fists rained down on him like mallets. Each fist slammed into his skull from Sam Taylor. Sam felt like he had Jack where he wanted him now, Jack quickly took a handful of sand and threw it into the eyes of Sam in order to get him off. Sam screamed out in pain and rolled off of Jack, rubbing and clawing at his eyes like a wild animal.

The crowd began to boo Jack wildly, they booed him for using dirty methods such as throwing sand into his opponent's eyes. The young gunslinger ignored them, Isaiah had just made it back to his feet and he slowly turned to face Jack. Jack balled up his fists and looked over his shoulder to see Sam Taylor scrambling up.

"_Come on assholes." _Jack growled as he looked at his opponents back and forth, the gunslinger then had an idea. He ran at Isaiah and jumped up, hooking his arms around his thick head into a headlock. Isaiah was around 6'8 and weighed 385 pounds, making him the biggest fighter that Saint Denis has ever seen.

Jack Marston landed onto his feet with the headlock still in, he put his weight down on Isaiah but Jack weighed a lot more lighter than Isaiah obviously. Isaiah was also much more stronger than Jack, the tall brute from Bronx drove his feet into the ground and that drove him forward. That would push Jack closer to Sam, the gunslinger growled and tightened his grip on Isaiah. Isaiah then lifted Jack into the air and charged forward, aiming to slam the gunslinger into the barricade. Sam began to rush at Isaiah, the fighting veteran was aiming to attack Jack.

Jack put his idea into motion, with him raised into the air. He stuck a foot out towards Sam, Isaiah drove him down. Causing Jack to drill Sam into the ground with both feet, stomping him into the sand. Sam had all of the wind knocked out of him right then and there, Isaiah was still up though. Once the brute slammed Jack down, Jack was on his feet. The gunslinger released the headlock and took a few steps closer towards the barricade. Isaiah wasn't wasting any time and he instantly charged towards Jack from behind, the gunslinger then took in a deep breath and time seemed to slow down. Jack was using dead eye, an ability in which slows down time and allows him to focus a lot more than he normally can.

Jack seen Isaiah charging in, he took this time to jump back and land on his bottom. He then started to breathe normally again and then time went back to normal in an instant, Isaiah crashed through the barricade. The big man took down a few spectators as he crashed into the wooden floor on the other side of the barricade, Jack smirked as the crowd silenced once more. Sam Taylor was out of the fight, and Isaiah Brown was out too.

The crowd began to cheer Jack little by little, the announcer still had a hard heart, and was not impressed. Jack looked over at the announcer, he gave him a cocky wink.

"_Okay everyone, we have a winner here. The Gambler wins his first fight at the Saint Denis Fighting Pits!" _The announcer cried out in fake shock and awe, Jack approached the announcer with a serious look on his face.

"_Alright sir, who is next?" _He asked the announcer, the announcer huffed and rolled his eyes.

"_Look, you just barged right on in an announced that you were here. We don't have anything scheduled or booked for you Mr. Gambler, and tomorrow's fights are all in. You can be a spectator, you will see the undefeated champion in action." _The announcer said in response, he cracked a devious grin towards the end of his sentence.

"_I'll take on that champion eventually, and I will humiliate your ass and all of his fans." _Jack growled as he shoved his way past the announcer.

As Jack left the Saint Denis fighting pits for the night, he began to ponder where he would live. Lake Don Julio was a far distance away from Saint Denis and he was now a fighter for the Saint Denis Fighting Pits, he then forgot about the money he was owed from his first win. He turned back around and marched into the old warehouse, he looked around for the announcer. He noticed the announcer in the distance, heading for the double doors.

"_Hey! Hey you!" _Jack called out as he hopped over the barricade and began to follow the announcer to the outside area or backstage, the announcer began to close the doors when Jack burst into them. The announcer was sent flying a few feet away, Jack looked down at him.

"_Listen, I don't know what your name is. I am owed money, after all. The winners get paid, right?" _Jack asked, the announcer laughed a bit and dug into his coat pocket. He pulled out a money clip, the total amount of money was fifty dollars. Jack nodded his head down at the announcer before leaving for good.

Jack would wake up the next morning with a stretch, he had slept in an abandoned apartment right across the street from the Fighting Pit. The gunslinger actually liked this new job of his, a brawler, fighting to earn money. Fifty dollars per win sounded like a good deal, then a thought came to his mind. He wondered just how much money the company owned, he also wondered where they stored the money. He decided it was time to find out.

Jack made his way across the street, clad in the clothing in which he inherited from his father, John Marston. Jack carried his father's revolver, he examined the building from the front. There was two windows, a broken one, and a non-broken one. The words "The Saint Denis Pit" were painted on the blank white brick wall in red, there seemed to be an alleyway beside the building. Jack walked into the alleyway and seen that there was a ladder in which lead up all the way to the top of the building.

Jack smiled, he figured that the money would be stashed in an upstairs room in the building. He hopped up and grasped onto the ladder, he pulled himself up and started to scale up the ladder. The young gunslinger wondered how easy it would be for him to get away with stealing the fortune of this company, he felt slightly nervous as this would be his first robbery. He had no gang or help, he would try his best though. Jack never learned to give up as a child, nor will he ever.

A person was watching him from below, it was a fighter and it was none other than the undefeated champion himself, Bill Pierce.

"_What is this fool doing?"_ The champion asked himself as he watched Jack make his way to the rooftop, Bill Pierce wore his casual street clothing and then he noticed the announcer step outside of the building to call him in.

"_Bill, you've gotta be prepared to defend your championship later tonight. Come on inside tough guy!" _The announcer called out, Bill looked at him and then up at the roof. The announcer got suspicious and marched over to his prized champion.

"_Mr. Cornwall, you've got some sort of monkey human freak climbing to the top of the building. Want me to go see what this fool is doing?"_ Bill asked, the announcer gasped and looked to the roof. He didn't see anyone up there.

"_Sure, be sure to tell me who it is." _The announcer said as he walked back inside, Bill nodded his head and made his way towards the ladder.

At the same time as the two talked, Jack walked over to a corner of the roof, and a latch happened to be there in the corner. This latch would be a rooftop entry point for the building, he grabbed the handle of the latch and pulled. Jack found that it would be harder to open than he thought, it was locked. Jack had no keys either, he was pretty much screwed until he could find a set of keys to open the latch up.

"_Ah crap, I've gotta find another way inside. I need that money." _Jack growled to himself, he then noticed a blurry figure emerge from the ladder out of the corner of his eye. He then looked up and seen Bill Pierce standing about twenty feet away from him on the other side of the building.

"_What are you doing? You should have known that the latch needs a key." _Bill asked, speaking in a more demanding tone. Jack sounded annoyed when he responded.

"_Nothing personal sir, I just need the money. Can you help me get it? I'm sure you've got a key." _Jack sighed as he rolled his eyes, Bill snickered to himself before making his approach towards the young gunslinger and the latch.

"_Yeah, I've got a key." _

Jack watched Bill as he approached, he then looked back down at the latch. He didn't know that this was Bill Pierce, he would soon figure it all out.

"_Well give it here dumba.." _Jack couldn't finish his sentence when he felt the equivalent of a rock smashing into the side of his head, he was knocked out instantly by the champion's right hand.

"_I've got the key to your cell in backstage." _

Jack would wake up hours later, he heard the blurry cheers and boos from the arena room. Jack was in a dimly lit area, he seemed to be in a cell and both arms were in shackles. He then heard the distinctive voice of the announcer from the next room, trying to rally the crowd up.

"_Ladies and gentlemen of Saint Denis and the area of Bayou NWA, I welcome you all to the Saint Denis Fighting Pit, where all of the greatest fighters go head to head for the prize money of one hundred grand!" _

Jack groaned at the announcer's voice but he now knew that this arena had more than Jack thought, if the prize money was one hundred grand, then the champion must be rich. The announcer wasn't done speaking though and Jack continued to listen in.

"_I, Rodger Cornwall, son of the millionaire Leviticus Cornwall, give you the greatest entertainment in Saint Denis. You shall see the undefeated champion, Bill "Apex Predator" Pierce and The Gambler along with many others tonight. You will see Sam Taylor and Isaiah Brown go head to head, the main event will be Bill Pierce defending his championship against the number one contender, Lou Scherr!" _

Jack was in shock, this was the son of Leviticus Cornwall, no wonder why the announcer seemed so rich. He was the son of a millionaire, Jack was even more determined to take the money now. If he could pull it off, getting to Tahiti wouldn't be so hard after all.

"_The show starts within the next hour, or should I say the Pre-show. You will see The Gambler take on Rebecca McIntyre, the Irish war whore!" _

Jack raised an eyebrow, he would be fighting a woman. Now he swore to never lay his hands on a woman unless they really asked for it, he balled up his fists. To make matters even worse, he was on the pre-show within the next hour. He heard the crowd cheer and could hear other people talking in the other rooms close by.

"_Cornwall, I implore you to set me free from these chains! Who is the scumbag that locked me in this cell, I'll sue your entire company you son of a…" _Jack was interrupted when the announcer, whose name was revealed to be Rodger Cornwall, entered the room with the cell.

"_Good luck suing me boy, I've got all the money I want and need. The society has my back, the government supports the rich and rats out the poor. You are here for money, you will fight under my company and you will receive my money. I like those fancy words you used, you implore me eh?" _

"_Yes, I implore you to set me free. You are blood of Leviticus Cornwall, you inherited all that money into your own. You have more than you need you cash hog, just lend me some thousand dollars and I will be on my way to a tropical paradise in Tahiti!"_ Jack cried out, Rodger laughed loudly and then responded.

"_Tahiti? You'll have to travel all the way to California and then pay some more shit off. Then you'll need to pay even more for the trip to Tahiti, and also, I'd rather be protected by the government with all of my money than lend it to anyone. You have more mouth than a bull has a big ass, you're not better than me,Gambler." _

Suddenly, Jack began to snicker manically and looked up at the millionaire with a devious grin.

"_I'm not better than you? I am Jack Marston, son of the late great John Marston. Ever heard of the Van Der Linde gang?" _

Cornwall's face turned from a devious arrogant look to a shocked and angered one, he held a Marston as prisoner and he didn't even know it.

"_Wait a minute, Van Der Linde…" _Rodger Cornwall said in fear and shock.

"_That's right, Dutch Van Der Linde. The man who shot your father right in the skull, all of those years ago. I was just a little boy then, my father was in the gang. I've lost my father, you've lost yours. So I'd say we are even Mr. Cornwall." _Jack said with a devious smirk.

Jack had instilled great anger within Rodger Cornwall, the millionaire thought for a minute and then a wicked smirk came upon his face.

"_Alright Mr. Marston, tonight you will face off against our best female fighter. Rebecca McIntyre, the war whore of Dublin. I'll be making it a deathmatch, prepare yourself for your demise. Your legacy shall not be as great as the Van Der Linde gang or John Marston's legacy, you shall be put down before you even have the chance to make an impact in my empire of fame." _

Jack now felt slightly nervous, he always had time for an arrogant and smart ass response. Arthur Morgan was known for his smart ass attitude, the influence could clearly be seen in how Jack spoke.

"_Of course my legacy isn't going to be like that of the gang or my father's, I will carve my own path. Everybody is different, it seems that you've got your head so far up your own ass that you cannot see through it. Your cock gets hard for all the money you earn, money means everything to you doesn't it Cornwall?" _

"_Shut your fucking mouth, Marston!" _Rodger Cornwall snapped, Jack snickered. Jack knew he was pissing off the millionaire before his very eyes.

"_Your empire of fame will come to an end and I swear before I fall from this world, that money will be mine. Saint Denis will be plagued one day, you shall watch as your fortune goes to Hell and what will your father think. You're just like your old man, always one for the money, and fame, and fortune. You're nothing but your daddy's bitch." _Jack Marston spoke, keeping his smart responses and only pissing Cornwall off more.

"_Those are some fine final words, I can't wait for Rebecca to silence your dirty mouth as she slits your throat within one hour. Save your time while you can." _Cornwall said in anger as he stormed out of the room.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone, I am taking a break from writing my Godzilla series and wanting to work on something new for a while. I call this, Red Dead Expansion. I take my imagination and put it into stories for events in the Red Dead series, please know that there may be some mistakes as I am a very young writer on here. Please leave a review, let me know on things I can improve. Or just leave a review on how you like it so far. **


	2. Dawn of the Marston Gang

(Chapter 2: Dawn of the Marston Gang)

The location was Blackwater, it was around Ten in the morning. Douglas Mulligan, the leader of the BlackJacks, had made his way from across the Grizzlies and down into West Elizabeth. The rest of his gang continued to travel down, the best members of the gang followed with him about an hour later. Mulligan now sat in an office, speaking with Agent Archer Fordham.

"I am Douglas Macintosh, I am a bounty hunter from West of the Grizzlies Mountains over in Ambarino. I have a special squadron of folk in which help me out, we are the best in this rising state of civilization. I have some news for you." Douglas Mulligan spoke, giving himself a disguise last name for now. He didn't know if the newly formed FBI would have a record of him just yet.

"What is the news you bring me, this better be important Mr. Macintosh. I suggest you not to bore me." Archer Fordham responded, smoking a cigar.

"The Marston family, I know you've heard of them. Infamous outlaw, John Marston, slain at last by your previous superior and now you're here at the top. What if I had told you that his son was up to no good in New Austin?" Douglas said with a smirk, Archer's eyes widened.

"I'm pretty sure the little Marston runt would learn by now, his old family with the Van Der Linde gang came to an end. Mr. Ross had most of the gang killed off, Dutch is dead, John is dead. The only one we don't have is a woman by the name of Sadie Adler. So far we've let Jack to run on his own, he has no gang. The remainder of the Van Der Linde gang is lost to history, there is no telling where they all have gone. I don't think Jack will…" Archer's response was interrupted.

"Jack Marston, related to the strange disappearance of Edgar and Emily Ross. Folk have gone to that house over by Lake Don Julio to congratulate Edgar Ross on vanquishing John Marston, only to see some sort of John Marston clone standing before them at the front door. Newspaper article from last year in 1914, I believe Jack Marston has killed your superior. Now he roams freely, I can help you with that. Put a bounty on his head, I'll turn that bastard in." Douglas promised darkly.

Archer Fordham smirked at his new found bounty hunter in whom was secretly an outlaw from the West, he dug into a nearby cabinet and pulled out a double barrel shotgun just for Douglas Mulligan.

"See it done Mr. Macintosh, Jack is the last enemy that shall be destroyed." Douglas smirked deviously and walked over into the doorway before facing Archer one final time before heading out.

"John is gone, now we will destroy another monster, to justify our wages."

Douglas then left Blackwater Town Hall and made his way into the actual town, he would wait for his elite members of the BlackJacks to arrive. As the man in black strolled into town, he noticed a paper boy standing by a street light.

"Get your weekly Blackwater ledger here, weekly newspaper right here!" the paper boy called out, Douglas approached the adolescent and payed for the newspaper. He decided to read the paper as he waited for his gang elites to arrive.

"Here ya go, sir." The paper boy spoke as he handed the newspaper to Douglas, Douglas walked a few feet away and leaned against a brick wall. He opened the newspaper and began to skim through articles until he found something of interest.

Douglas found something of interest after seeing something about a big fighting scene over in the city of Saint Denis, it was always in the ledgers and papers. Although some fights were rare, a deathmatch would be fought during some occasions. The article would read as follows:

Saint Denis Pit Fighting #1469

After an impressive showing at the most recent show

The Gambler (Real name: Jack Marston) is going up in the ranks.

He seeks to fight against the champion, undefeated from day 1: Bill Pierce.

After "The Gambler" defeated a two year veteran and a massive brute from the Bronx, he surely seems to be the best contest for Pierce in recent weeks!

"Found you." Douglas said with a smirk as he dropped the cigar to the ground, not bothering to put it in any sort of trash can. Like many others, Douglas gave no shit about society or civilization.

About ten minutes passed by before three more riders shown up. Nicholas Lanza, Jake Lanza, and Shaw Jackson. All black clothing for the exception of a white stripe around the bottom of their hats, considering how massive the gang was. Three elites and the leader did mean a whole lot, Jake had something he'd like to call "a special weapon" in a bag in which was stowed on the rear of the horse. The four BlackJacks began to ride out to Saint Denis, it wouldn't take them long. As for the rest of the BlackJack gang, they were riding down from the Grizzlies. Around one hour away from Ambarino now, a few of the elites were wondering why they needed to move so much to the East.

"Hey, Mulligan!" Nicholas Lanza asked from third in line, they rode in a straight line formation.

"Yeah, Nick?" Douglas asked loudly, patting his shire on the side of the bulky neck.

"I've been wondering why we had to move so far to the East, I'm gonna miss those glory days back in Missouri. All the great times we have had, nobody knew us. We always conquered the law and even the Pinkertons in some circumstances."

Douglas smiled and then responded, a variety of reasons had sent the BlackJacks towards the East and the East Coast if they got pushed any further.

"Well, the law was starting to catch up on us. More heists, and robberies turned into set ups. That big ass twister ruined everything, destroyed the entire town and left us with almost nothing. We was lucky to even steal those stagecoaches, old man Jonas was killed by the law and then I had to become a new leader. I must admit, I've only been in this leadership position for a few days, my father served in the military. Never returned since The Great War broke out."

There was a momentary pause before Jake entered the conversation from 2nd in the line formation.

"The World War is still going on, we can hope for America to get involved. That would mean that the law turn their attention from our actions."

"I forgot to mention, I burned down some home. Two people lived there, John Marston and Abigail Marston. Both are dead, John was taken out by the FBI back in the year of 1911. Abigail supposedly died last year, their son is the last in line." Douglas responded with a smirk on his face, taking the subject away from why the BlackJacks had to leave. Jake then spoke again.

"The Van Der Linde Gang, John, his wife, and their son was in the same gang. I got a paper, back in 1899, I was then only eighteen years old. Pinkertons tailed them everywhere they went until the inevitable end. Everyone thought John would be the last enemy after Dutch was killed."

"Then Edgar Ross retired from the FBI, it was formed a few years after the Van Der Linde gang came to an end. He retired to some place, Lake Don Julio. Jack Marston would begin his redemption path, he killed Ross, and his poor wife." Douglas spoke. Shaw would then speak for the first time on their ride towards Saint Denis.

"Why did you burn down Jack's old home over by Blackwater? Kicked over the crosses too, downright disrespectful. I will not question your authority over the gang, I'm curious as to why you did such an act."

"It is a long story, I don't want our name as outlaws to be the first thing people think of us. We don't need the law on our ass the first few days we get here, I know the fire will get Jack frantic. Now I took up a bounty hunter disguise background, if we turn in the last of the Marstons and the last of the Van Der Linde Gang. Our praise will be legendary, we will be hailed as heroes and we will receive money. I grew up as a poor boy, in a poor family. I needed money and I was tired of the constant slandering from my peers, the taunts and all the brutish behavior. I lost friends for having no wealth, I lived in a damn cabin until my teenage years. I joined in the BlackJack Gang to receive wealth from the heists. I would give to the poor, I would give to my family. I would give to all of you, in whom joined after me."

"We had a shit ton of money, all of those heists done us well. All of those raids done us well too, the first thing we should've done is bought ourselves many acres of land and build two mansions. Large mansions too. I pictured a large clearing at the bottom of a mountain, so peaceful and our gang could have become one large family. Instead of a family, we could have been a dynasty!" Nicholas Lanza said out in slight anger. All of the money that the BlackJacks had, we gone too.

"We did have more money than we needed, the gang just kept growing and growing and eventually we needed more and more cash. I would have paid off our bounties, then go and buy a chunk of land… However a tornado ruined my plans. Those minutes when all of us were huddled in a basement had to be the most uncomfortable thirty minutes of my life. To make matters worse, the money was all gone. I'm afraid we shall all have to face the wrath of the law once more, everyday. I am concerned, concerned for the future of all of us. Thirty years, thirty years of this gang. We are survivors so far, through the absolute worst, we've prevailed. We've divided, and we have conquered. We have seen members hang and sway in the wind by the dreadful noose, we have brought wars to Pinkertons. Now, the FBI is upon us."

The other three fell silent after the speech of Douglas, Douglas had been second in command of the gang for the longest time. His uncle, who many named "Old Man Jonas," had began the gang back in 1885. In the year of 1885, Jonas Clark was only thirty years old. Jonas met his demise around two months back, he was sixty years old.

Douglas Mulligan was second in command since he had risen to the occasion, he was born in a poor family and was living in a log cabin. As the gang began to swell in numbers, Douglas would always come up with good plans for heists and raids. The BlackJacks had loads of money then and would share it among the poor, and the homeless. Douglas would also contribute a majority of the money to his family, as a matter of fact, fifty percent would go to the poor and the other half would go to the parents of Douglas Mulligan.

Several minutes passed by, and eventually it was time for Jack Marston to have his deathmatch. Bill Pierce was the right hand man of Rodger Cornwall, almost as a bodyguard. Cornwall and Pierce approached the gunslinger as he looked up at the two in disdain, he yanked his arms and jerked them around but no evail.

"It is time for your match, Marston. Your life, has reached the climax. You are doomed to fall to our best female fighter, losing to a girl. How humiliating.." Cornwall taunted.

Bill began to undo the shackles around the wrists of Jack, the young gunslinger growled silently as his chains and shackles were undone. Jack felt brave, but he was slightly nervous. He feared his life would really end right after his old home was burned down and the grave sight of his parents, tarnished by the fires.

"You've reached the end of days, Marston. You'll be living out in the swamps, a land of piss, and shit. Don't forget the gators, I hope they feast upon your flesh after Rebecca leaves you laying on the sands." Bill taunted, jerking Jack up by the collar of his shirt from behind.

"And I hope, after I kill this Irish bitch and forever compromise this shitty fame that Mr. Cornwall has got himself here. I will hope you stop sucking his cock for your own fame and fortune." Jack snapped, it was foolish to act like a smart ass to Bill Pierce of all people but the young gunslinger would not be fighting against him though.

Cornwall laughed and smacked Jack across the face, Jack would not allow himself to be humiliated so easily. He spat at the shoes of the millionaire before him.

"Fuck you" Jack said in gritted teeth.

"You too. Now I'm gonna do my job as an announcer, you can do yours by being the loser of the fight." Cornwall responded, giving Jack a devious grin as he turned towards the doors.

Jack could hear the crowd cheering and some were booing, the sick bastards in which was the audience wanted to see a person die. Dutch taught Jack of Ancient Rome, he was taught of how the Romans fought in the coliseums. Jack was taught of the slaves of old years.

Then, Cornwall burst through the double doors, and the audience erupted in cheers. For such a small venue, the cheers were deafening.

"Ladies and gentleman, and to all the children with a lust for blood. I have brought you an amazing spectacle today and tonight, welcome to the pre-show of the Saint Denis Fighting Pit!"

Suddenly, Jack could feel his long hair being cut by Bill Pierce from behind. Jack growled out in anger and thrashed around a couple of times, yet no chance of escape.

"I'm cutting your hair, The Gambler title is now dead. You'll be a poor outlaw, you will be hated. I want your disdain. Jack Marston, the last man in the Marston bloodline. Your legacy is going to be cut short. Just like your hair."

Jack groaned, and continued to listen to Cornwall announce the matches and hype up the crowd. The young gunslinger shook his head in disbelief with a snarl on his face.

"In mere moments, you will see the most legendary outlaw in New Austin. Yet he has the blood of a Marston! Jack Marston has killed our new favorite talent, The Gambler. What a bastard Jack once was, notice how I said once? He will be facing Rebecca McIntyre, our best female fighter here. Rebecca will earn a free spot in the championship tourney if she is to take down this damned outlaw. Are you ready to see some blood be spilled once more!"

Jack decided to respond angrily, he would try to shout but he knew the crowd wouldn't hear him.

"The blood of McIntyre will be spilled, have some respect for my family. Have some respect for the dead you sick bastards!"

"They aren't listening, Jack." Bill Pierce responded with a laugh, Jack continued to growl out in rage. Bill was right though, words would do nothing for Jack.

The double doors slowly opened from two guards and the crowd began to boo the soul out of Jack, the gunslinger felt embarrassed by this and even humiliated. If Jack had a gun of any sort, there would be casualties. Jack walked towards the center of the pit and waited for his opponent.

He knew that the cheers would be simply unbearable, Jack didn't like any loud noise. He hated rallies of any kind, he hated massive gatherings. After a few more seconds passed by, an Irish kilt popped out of the corner and the cheers instantly started up.

Jack looked around, his face gave away a sense of uncomfort. He shook his head in disbelief, he was extremely annoyed. He then noticed Rebecca McIntyre and he changed his mind in the blink of an eye, she was actually very pretty.

Rebecca had a slight curvy shape but wasn't too curvy, she had large thighs and some toned arms. Her mahogany colored hair was flowing and braided in some parts, the makeup made her have beauty that made her look ten times better than she already did. Jack couldn't help himself but feel butterflies in his stomach at the sight, her beauty was out of this world.

"What's a pretty woman like you doing here, you should stay away from this place!" Jack tried to shout over the combination of cheers and boos, cheers for Rebecca and boos for him.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?" Rebecca taunted with a sexy giggle trailing at the end, giving Jack a devious grin.

The crowd began to slowly die down in terms of how loud they were, Jack then thought of something Arthur Morgan had said way back in 1899. He and Morgan had gone fishing by a tiny lake over by Horseshoe Overlook, Jack smirked and looked at the crowd.

"You fools enjoy being the toys of rich men, do you all?" Jack growled, the crowd ignored him as Rodger Cornwall looked at the crowd.

"Well then, let the deathmatch… Begi.." Glass shattered and then Cornwall fell to the floor, blood pouring out of a wound on the back of his head. He had been shot by somebody outside.

The crowd began to scream and scatter all over the place, another shot went off. Rebecca took towards the double doors, Jack looked around as people ran by him and shoved their way past him. His heart rate began to build up as another shot rang out, the loud frantic cries and screams of the audience didn't allow Jack to hear anything.

"I need to get out of here." Jack said to himself as he made his way towards the double doors, he would go to escape.

People were dropping here and there from being shot by somebody outside, Jack didn't want to get involved and he made his way through the double doors and down the hall. The screams and explosive shots were blurred out when the doors were closed and locked, Jack ran behind a large box. A box in which was full of weapons and items for the fights to come later on, he would wait and listen for the people to come closer to the doors.

Minute by minute went by as the screams and shots subsided, he could hear the dead thumping against the doors as they collapsed to the floor. A few more minutes went by as the noise level slowly went down to silence, an uncomfortable, dead silence. Jack then heard some blurred chatter, then it got closer.

"Jack Marston, we've come for you!" a voice shouted loudly from behind the doors, Jack remained silent for now.

"We are the BlackJacks, I am the one who burned down your home yesterday. We are hired guns by Archer Fordham of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, second to the government. Come out with your hands in the air!" Another voice commanded, Jack would shake his head and remain silent.

"This son of a bitch isn't listening, Jake, do your stuff." The same voice growled, there was dead silence again for a moment. Jack's heart was racing, the exit was right down the hall and to the right.

Then, multiple shots could be heard from behind the door. All loud and non stop, the bullets tore through the thick wood of the double doors with each thunderous round. These people were going to shoot the door down with whatever gun they had, Jack was desperate now. He looked around for a way to escape, and a way to not get shot.

To his right was a line of boxes, all touching one another. Jack was even hiding behind one of them, he got as low as he could. He could hear the bullets tap against the metal shelves against the wall, and he could hear them cling once they hit the floor.

Jack was sweating, he didn't know if he would make it out of this situation alive. Bullets were flying everywhere from behind those double doors and if he poked his head up for one second, he would be dead.

"Come out you son of a bitch!" The same voice shouted, Jack couldn't tell what the man was shouting as the newly formed holes on the double doors allowed the sound of the machine gun to be heard at maximum audio level.

Jack looked forward, if he made it past by just four more large boxes, he would be home free, and able to make a run for it. He would be where no bullets would hit him if he was to stand, there was no denying how intense this moment was for him. The holes in the double doors began to get bigger as the smaller holes would form bigger ones as more bullets ripped through them, lucky enough for Jack though, the large hole wasn't near the door handles so they could be pushed open.

Jack then began to crawl faster, he felt that it was crunch time, and he needed to get moving. Once he past the fourth box, he swung his legs around and now he was facing the opposite direction and towards the double doors. He pulled one of the boxes to the side very slightly, he wanted to get a look at his attackers and remember their faces if they were to strike again.

The leader of them was wearing all black clothing, well, all of them were wearing dark black clothing. The leader had a dark red, paragon town hat. He looked strikingly similar to John Marston, yet he wasn't John. He had a mustache combined with friendly muttonchops, it was a strange design for facial hair at the time.

The one shooting the gun seemed to be the youngest, he wore a lighter shade of black, the coloring of his clothes appearing to be gray more than black. The thing that made him stand out, was the fact that he had this villainous looking mustache.

The third man looked similar to the one with the machine gun, except he was older and had more of an appearance similar to Dutch Van Der Linde, he wasn't Dutch though. He looked like Dutch from his younger years in 1899, lastly, the fourth member wore all black and had his black shotgun coat unbuttoned, revealing a red and orange flannel shirt from beneath.

"So these are the assholes that want to kill me, seems like they all just got out of a funeral. So much dark clothing." Jack joked to himself as he flipped himself around and ran away, he had the chance to.

Once Jack made it out of the warehouse, he whistled for his horse, Arthur, to come towards him. He knew that the men from within the warehouse as Arthur wasn't too far away from him. The horse came running from around the corner, Jack quickly hopped on to his trusty steed and sped away. Towards Annesburg, he felt that he was lucky to survive the situation he was in.

"I was right about one thing, Cornwall will come to an end and his fame would end. Now the dawn of my legacy begins." Jack said to himself as he sped slightly to the East and up North, Jack was right about what he had just said. His legacy will be big, it will be great.

However in order to combat these men, Jack would need a gang. He knew that there was more than four men, he knew this gang was bigger. He needed a gang, this would make him pursue the live he wanted to live. A gunslinger, a life that his father and mother feared would become of their child. This was the dawn of the Marston gang…


	3. And so it begins

(Chapter 3: So it begins…)

After about an hour of solid travel and avoiding the law, Jack Marston had safely managed to flee into the Annesburg area. He was on the same mountain side, the same side that Arthur had succumbed to Tuberculosis and fell from this world, facing the sunrise. Jack sighed as he was on one knee on the edge of the cliff, looking out and into the wilderness of the forest.

"What will I do now?" Jack asked, he expected an answer. He would go here from time to time almost as an emotional therapy and it would boost his confidence, he felt a strong connection with Arthur Morgan from the past, even stronger than his father's connection.

He would hear the voice of Arthur in his head in this exact spot, almost as if the spirit of Arthur got into his head and gave him advice. Advice is what Jack needed, his home was gone, his money was all burned away. Jack had nothing else to do but to resort to robbing banks, it is what his parents feared he would be forced to do.

Jack's Arabian horse stood on the bottom of the mountain as the young gunslinger got up from his kneeling position. He took in a deep breath and looked out into the wilderness once more, he would head down into the actual town of Annesburg that night. He expected law enforcement to be all around after the Saint Denis Fighting Pit was attacked by the four members of the BlackJacks.

The good thing was, Jack had knowledge of who burned down his old home and who destroyed the graves of his parents. He knew there was a gang roaming around the state, he didn't know how big it was though. Jack sat on a nearby rock and thought to himself, he wanted, and he needed a gang. The lightbulb went off in his mind around five minutes into his thinking session, he thought of Bill Pierce and Rebecca McIntyre, the best fighters of the brawling show back at Saint Denis. Jack felt that he could get the chance of the two into his gang, three members already would be a good start. After all, it is how the Van Der Linde gang started. Dutch, Hosea, and a young Arthur Morgan.

Jack was often told the success of Dutch's Boys, before the gang came to a vicious end in 1899. The gunslinger swore to himself that if he ever grew up to start a gang, it would not end up how the gang of Dutch Van Der Linde did.

So it was set, he would try to confront Bill Pierce about the gang and possibly Rebecca. He felt slightly uncertain about Bill though, the champion of the Fighting Pit seemed to enjoy the lavish lifestyle that the society had given him. Rebecca seemed to enjoy it too, Jack was never the motivational speaker, but he needed to open the eyes of people he needed near him now.

(That Night)

Annesburg had grown in size, almost a city as Saint Denis. The railroad company had constructed a large bridge in which crossed the Lannahechee River, with the bridge going across the river, new land was found to explore and settle in. Annesburg would be the first to do so, Blackwater would eventually have a bridge constructed in the far reaches of the future. It would be made in the 30s, it was only in the 1910s currently. The town had many homes and even a good few banks on the other side of the river, including a bar.

Jack Marston made his way past the Van Horn Trading Post and up the path, eventually leading into Annesburg. The cool air of the night giving him slight goosebumps, he was tired though. He hadn't got any sleep as of late and it was quite hard to get some, he was forced to sleep in an abandoned room in an apartment in Saint Denis from the night before. He had to sleep on hard floor, there was nothing in the room.

The gunslinger lit a cigar and began to smoke as he seen the lights from the railroad/mining town began to appear in the fog, it had grown cloudy as the day went on and a heavy rain come through. The week had been quite rough with rain, with a violent thunderstorm early from the other day and from heavy rain all throughout the week. Mud was everywhere, and the rain stained the wood of the buildings and made some recent painting slip away.

"Wow, Annesburg surely has grown. Proud of these folk." Jack said to himself as he seen the lights on the bridge from afar, he had never been to the town of Annesburg. He was told stories by it or heard about it from others, he continued to make his way further into Annesburg and then he took a right turn on Arthur, he patted his horse on the side and made his way across the bridge.

Now he was across the river into territory he never even stepped on, lands his old uncles and aunts from the Van Der Linde gang, they never stepped on this land either. The land across the Lannahechee River was brand new, all wilderness and only one percent of it was Annesburg property. He looked around and seen the saloon to his right, he smiled and hitched Arthur on a fence near by.

Jack entered the saloon and looked around, it was a very fancy saloon but most of the people looked rough. After all, Annesburg was very close to a mine and the other side of town was a large railroad company. The young gunslinger noticed a man in a tuxedo and had a decent amount of black hair in which had been slicked back, it had to be Bill Pierce. Jack knew that Bill had loads of money, he approached Bill with caution and sat down next to him. Bill looked into the corner of his eye and seen Jack, he smirked and then turned his head to face him.

"You, you would have been killed. You're lucky, you outlaw dog." Bill Pierce said in slight aggression, trying to intimidate Jack. Jack wouldn't be afraid so easy, he had a strong heart.

"I'm no outlaw Mr. Pierce, I'm trying to do the best I can to earn some money and live a peaceful life. You misunderstand my intentions."

Bill raised an eyebrow, almost as if he didn't believe what Jack was telling him. Jack then continued to speak.

"My home was burned down, my old home at that, by some gang known as the BlackJacks. I had only killed the man, the man who killed my father. If anything it was redemption, my family was innocent after the Van Der Linde gang broke up back in 1899. We lived on a peaceful ranch close to Blackwater, called Beecher's Hope."

"And then what?" Bill asked with a cocky smile, Jack sighed and asked for a shot of whiskey before he continued.

"Edgar Ross, hired John Marston to seek out and kill the last remaining members of the Van Der Linde Gang. My father drove Dutch off a cliff, he had Bill Williamson killed, Javier was dead. My dad did what the law wanted him to do, but it just wasn't enough. After a couple of weeks and maybe a month later, the American Army stormed my home and shot my last uncle, they killed my father in cold blood. I had to live with my mother, a woman I loved with all of my heart, for just a remainder of three years."

Bill Pierce nodded as he took a sip of his wine, keeping his eyes on Jack the entire time.

"Then my mother fell from this world, at least she is with my father now. So once I gave her a proper burial, I inherited the clothing of my father. The same hat, the clothes and all. I did what had to be done, I killed Edgar Ross the same way we met. Right by a river."

There was a silence between the two before Bill Pierce spoke up again.

"Well, that doesn't explain why you still need to be an outlaw."

Jack growled and took the shot of whiskey as it was slid over to him by the bartender, he then looked at Bill Pierce with a fierce yet determined look in his eyes.

"I planned to leave for Tahiti after living by Lake Don Julio for about a year, I would return to Beecher's Hope. The whole ranch was in flames, the money was gone. Then you've got the fool, the son of Leviticus Cornwall, running a corrupt fighting company over in Saint Denis. You was blinded by all the money he gave you. Cornwall, he gave no shit for the poor and for the ones in poverty. Society jerked his dick and he enjoyed every second of it, he loved the fame and the money. Now word has gone out that I am some outlaw, which is a lie. I was tracked down by four members of the BlackJacks, now I am forced to travel away from Saint Denis before they kill my ass."

Bill Pierce widened his eyes in fake intimidation, he was being sarcastic. Jack could tell.

"Easy now, no need to get so pissy about it."

Jack sighed and then looked at his reflection in the shot glass, the reflection of his father appeared before his eyes. John Marston, a man who tried to live a peaceful life, had society play him like a puppet, and he was disposed of when he was of no use. Jack was infuriated of how the law killed his father all for no good reason, he chucked the wine glass off the bar and it shattered to shards.

"America is going to change, Pierce. Not for the good, but for the worse. Government will play apart in all of our lives, law enforcement will be more brutish and harsh on us. They will be more strict, society and the government will favor the rich and wealthy, and they will piss on the poor and the weak. As the government grows, society will too. Making the situation a whole lot worse, there will be no justice for what the law does, that is once a new century shows it's head. America was founded on freedom, how are we free if the government looks at everything we do? How are we free, if the law enforcement beats up poor people and arrests them for no reason? The rich, if they break the law, they just get a slap on the wrist. Whites and the colored folk, if they are rich then nothing can go wrong. The same can be said for the poor, the people who aren't as wealthy, all people of different kinds will be shit on by the government."

Jack Marston delivered the speech to Bill, gaining some attention from other people in the bar. Rebecca then appeared from around the corner and took a seat next to Jack.

"Quite a speech, Jackie. I came here to embrace the beauty of what America could hold, you are right. America is killing itself a little more everyday, people are too blind to see it." Rebecca said, Bill seen that Jack had supporters in his cause.

"Join me Bill, I will start a gang. We will bring justice, we are the peacemakers and we are the ones that are blessed. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will take down this corrupt system one by one. We will persevere, by any means necessary. I don't give a damn if we have to take a life, we are doing the greater good. Join us Bill, you can still fight. You can fight alongside me."

Bill thought for a moment, Jack had extended a hand out to him. Bill Pierce had been brainwashed by the fame and fortune he had received, Sam Taylor was listening from the table he was sitting at and decided to get involved.

"No, you shouldn't Bill. Use your fame and fortune to make another fighting business, give the Saint Denis brawlers another chance. Don't waste it by joining this outlaw." Sam seemed to demand and all while giving Jack a hateful glare.

"As far as I'm concerned, I whipped your ass with no experience in the Saint Denis Fighting scene. For a two year veteran, you got shit on." Jack growled, getting up and looking Sam right in the eye.

Bill then looked back at Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre, he thought for a few more seconds.

"There is no justice in America anymore." Bill said before extending his arm out and giving Jack a handshake.

"There never was." Jack responded as he received the handshake, and so the Marston Gang was formed. All with a handshake, this gang would shock the rising system of American law enforcement.

(3 in the morning)

Douglas and his gang had searched almost all day and all night, they couldn't find Jack and thus, had left the Saint Denis Fighting Pit all littered with corpses.

"We've lost him Doug, the rest of the gang is probably searching for us." Shaw spoke in his raspy southern accent. Douglas turned his head and sighed.

"You're right, we need to hook up with the others. We need to find camp, somewhere."

"Then we should head on up to Ambarino, make our way into the Grizzlies again. They've probably already made their way down into West Elizabeth by now." Jake said, pulling the reins on his horse towards the direction of the large snow covered mountains.

"Brothers right Doug, I suggest we head in that direction too. We need to head towards Blackwater, I'm assuming that the gang followed the same path we did." Nicholas added on to what Jake spoke about. Douglas nodded and pointed towards the direction where Blackwater would be in.

"Let's ride!" Douglas shouted loudly, so he and the other three members of the BlackJacks raced out towards the town of Blackwater.

It would take Douglas, Shaw, Nicholas, and Jake around thirty minutes to reach Blackwater. Douglas wanted to speak with Archer Fordham, but it was too late at night and way early in the morning. Each of the members were extremely tired, especially Douglas.

"I need some damn rest, this leadership role is harder than it seems." Douglas groaned, his eyes were bloodshot and the dark rings were starting to show under his eyes as they drooped ever so slowly.

"Perhaps I should take up role, I dreamed of being a great leader." Jake spoke up, Douglas smiled slightly. Then Nicholas chimed in.

"A great leader? Maybe you can be the next president of the United States." Nicholas jokes, messing with his younger brother.

"I don't have time for that big of a role, especially in the sinful society we all live in."

The four made their way through the silent streets of Blackwater, everything seemed closed down and only the street lights remained on. Then the gang made their way up the dirt road path, a church was on the side of this path and overlooked the town. Including a small cemetery, to the East of the gang was the Grizzlies Mountains and to their West was the Flat Iron Lake. Shaw noticed orange lights far in the distance, coming out of the trees over in the Tall Trees area.

"Doug, I think that is the caravan up in the distance." Shaw announced, Douglas looked up and seen the glow of the lanterns on the trees.

"It's about damn time, we need to find a camp. I have a plan about it too, for now we will rest in our stagecoaches." Douglas responded as the four made their way North towards Tall Trees.

(The next morning)

Bill, Jack, and Rebecca sat at the table. Bill decided to take the gunslinger and the Irish fighter in as guests, the good thing was, that Bill Pierce had a decent sized house. He was currently saving money for a mansion, the three were eating some breakfast stew.

"Again, much thanks Mr. Pierce, and thank you for joining me in my quest." Jack said, giving thanks to the champion of Saint Denis. The home of Bill sat on top of a hill on the other side of Annesburg, across the river.

"You are wanting to go to Tahiti? Can you tell me what it is like?" Bill asked, wondering how Tahiti was.

"I don't know how good of a place Tahiti is, I was in a gang many years back. Pretty sure you've heard the name of Dutch Van Der Linde, I was then a little boy. Dutch would always speak of Tahiti, he spoke of it as the gang came closer to its end. He described it as a tropical paradise, I'm taking his word for it. I'm wanting to leave America behind, I'm wanting to leave the corrupt government, and law enforcement, I'm wanting to leave it all behind." Jack explained,

"That sounds like something I can get behind. I think we both owe you Jack, all three of us need to get to Tahiti or wherever." Rebecca said with a polite smile on her face, Jack smiled.

"I think we all should know that this path isn't going to be the easiest one, we'll have the law on our tails. The FBI, to make matters worse, you've got an entire gang hunting you down." Bill reminded Jack, Jack raised an eyebrow at the last thing Bill said in his sentence.

"I do have a gang hunting me down, I won't leave any bad action against me unpunished. I've gotta settle the score with them Blackjacks, I cannot let my goals spiral out of control. I can't lose motivation so soon." Bill thought for a minute before speaking up.

"Well. How about you and I go see what has been left behind at Beecher's Hope? Maybe we can have some clues to where these BlackJacks are located."

Jack nodded his head, the three continued to eat their morning stew and talk amongst themselves. While the BlackJacks on the other hand, was moving on towards their new campgrounds.

Douglas and Nicholas asked some residents in Blackwater about towns nearby big enough for the gang, they didn't give any details about their gang. They just spoke of a "gathering," and nothing else. The two scouted around the shores of the Flat Iron Lake, and eventually they discovered the wreck of the Serendipity. The Serendipity was an American sternwheel steamboat in which was old and rotting away, it was partially sunk. The two had also discovered a town called Thieves' Landing, the town was abandoned. It was abandoned due to unknown reasons, a popular theory amongst civilians, was that with the new civilization expansion in progress, people thought that the residents of Thieves' Landing had left it behind for better quality homes.

The best members of the gang would hide out in the abandoned steamboat, while the others would live in Thieves' Landing for the time being. The caravan of the BlackJacks was on their way towards the locations for the camp. The elite four of the gang would lead the way, most of the gang had got a six hour sleep for the time they all settled. It was enough time for the gang to move just a little bit further.

"Alright, here is what I want to happen!" Douglas called out, ready to give the whole gang the announcement.

"Me and the elite three would hide out in an abandoned steamboat right up ahead and down the hill, the rest of you will hide out in a settlement called Thieves' Landing. Not all of you will fit in the settlement so a few more of you will need to set up tents for the time being before we find a new camping ground fit for all of us!" Douglas announced.

"Shaw, Jake, come up here. I've got something exclusive planned for you two."

Jake Lanza and Shaw moved up next to Douglas, to hear what Douglas had to say to them.

"I want both of you to head on over to Beecher's Hope once we all get settled in, first I need you two to see if this ship is even worth hiding in. Once you investigate this wreck, head over to Beecher's Hope to see if anything is left to take."

Meanwhile over towards Annesburg, Jack Marston, Bill Pierce, and Rebecca McIntyre, all were making their way towards Beecher's Hope. Jack figured that the BlackJacks would be somewhere in the area of his old home, or somewhere in West Elizabeth at least.

"That boy Sam Taylor looked quite pissed when you turned down his offer, Bill." Jack said with a smirk on his face, remembering on how comical it looked when Sam Taylor's offer was rejected.

"He's just annoyed that he has been defeated by me over and over, I don't see how he has a chance on winning my respect when I take him out with only one move. You've opened my eyes up about the government, Jack. I've been thinking about it and I agree with you."

Jack smiled at how Bill responded, feeling great at how he was getting others to join his cause. The gunslinger looked to his left and seen Rebecca riding along with him.

"So, Rebecca. What brings you to America? How was it over in Ireland?" Jack asked, feeling curious about how Rebecca was before and now.

"I came over to America to see how beautiful it was, I often heard stories about it from my parents. We moved over into America when I was around ten years old, now I am twenty four years old and I seen that the beauty of how life is here. It is fading away, live in Ireland was fine. You would love the country of it and the way we live life was fine too. I miss it greatly, however if you can take us to this Tahiti Island you speak of. I will be happy, at least we shall be able to live our lives freely." Rebecca responded, focusing on the dirt road path.

"I bet Ireland was beautiful, my father was part Scottish. Too bad he was an orphan, he also left me and my mother when we were all in the Van Der Linde Gang. It seemed he didn't care about me for those first few years of my existence, I cared about him. I always loved my father, John Marston was his name. Even if he did not love me for those first few years, I loved him anyways. Dutch taught me to not kill the innocent. I resort to love instead of war, I try to talk my way out of things instead of resorting to violence. I only kill when I need to." Jack responded.

"Is that why you tried to talk to me back at the Fighting Pit, Jack?" Rebecca asked with a slight smile on her face, she looked at Jack for a second before looking back on the path.

"Yes, I don't kill when people don't deserve to die. Even though you are called the war maiden, I don't like to use the word whore. I still tried to speak my way out, I didn't want you to kill me, and I didn't want to kill you." Jack responded with a nice tone in his voice.

Bill smirked, he could tell that Jack had a thing for Rebecca. They both just met yesterday and Jack was already trying.

"Why thank you, my nickname deceives me Jackie. I am actually a very caring person outside of all of this violence, we should all be treated kindly instead of being treated like gladiators. I liked fighting in the Fighting Pit, it was fun. I didn't like killing."

There was a pause before Jack responded to what Rebecca had said, something about her made Jack like her.

"You're welcome Ms. McIntyre, it is also good to have you join me in this gang. I don't like killing, I bet we all don't like killing, but when our back is against the wall by BlackJacks or the law. We kill, and we run. We run, and don't look back." Jack responded, now sounding serious. He remembered John and Arthur both used the saying "run and don't look back."

"Don't we have any rules, what do we kill or who do we kill?" Bill asked, looking at Jack for a moment.

"If the law enforcement is after us, we kill without remorse. If it is the BlackJacks that are after us, we don't hesitate to kill them. If we are robbing banks or preforming a heist, we harm no innocents unless they are clearly asking for death. There is one thing I don't like seeing, that is seeing the innocent die."

"Agreed" Bill and Rebecca both said at the same time.

"Now, let's ride!" Jack shouted, putting pressure with the reins. The three continued their ride towards Beecher's Hope. It would take them about an hour to get to the area.

(One Hour Later)

Shaw and Jake of the BlackJacks had arrived at the remains of Beecher's Hope, everything was burned. The brown house had been turned black from being burned, the parts that was still up at that matter. The silo had collapsed, the barn had collapsed but some of it still stood.

The two began to investigate the burnt remains, scouring for anything of use. Jake noticed two crosses a few feet away from where he was searching and he smirked, Jake Lanza approached the crosses, the crosses in which marked the graves of John Marston and Abigail Marston.

"Find a shovel, Shaw. We've got some graves to dig up." Shaw nodded his head and walked towards the barn to see if he could find a shovel, Jake looked down at the crosses and patiently waited for Shaw to come back with a shovel or a spade.

"I think we can use these wooden crosses for firewood, the gang needs a fireplace to tell stories around." Jake added on with a sinister tone in his voice, suddenly, he noticed three people riding from the up top the hill in which overlooked Beecher's Hope.

"We've got some company Shaw, damn shame we don't have our weapons." Jake said as he folded his arms, waiting for the three to arrive.

Jack, Bill, and Rebecca made their way over to Jake as he stood still in his dark grey clothing.

"You, are you one of them?" Jack asked in an angered tone as he hopped off his horse, Jake slowly nodded his head.

"You tried to kill me, are you the bastard that burned down this house? The house that I lived in."

Jake would respond to what Jack had just said, as Shaw approached from behind with a shovel.

"We are among the BlackJacks, I am not the one who burned down this house. Douglas Mulligan would be the man you're looking for, this is our yard now. Gone are the days of the Marston family and the Van Der Linde Gang, this state is not Marston territory anymore. Be it West Elizabeth, New Austin, Ambarino or wherever, those trends are dead now. We are the BlackJacks, we are trendkillers. You're an outlaw, Jack Marston. You will die, the outlaw trend will die along with you." Jake said coldly, trying to strike fear into the gunslinger in whom stood before him.

"I don't know what you're talking about sir, the outlaw trend has been dead. If you consider it to be dead already, then I must be a dead man walking." Jack responded in a smart tone of voice.

There was silence for a few seconds, the breeze blew through the air. Blowing the hair of Jack Marston and the ones with longer hair, Jake fixed his hat and gave Jack a cold stare before Jack would continue speaking.

"I would have words with Douglas Mulligan, give me five minutes alone with that demon. I want to have a private conversation with the man by Flat Iron Lake, you'll see his body float away by the end of the day."

Jake snickered at what Jack just said and sighed as he looked at the ground, there was silence for a few more seconds as Jack and his two crew members stared at the two BlackJack members before them.

"Answer me BlackJack scum, or I won't be responsible for my actions!" Jack said, raising his voice as he slowly drug his hand down to his gun holster.

"Kill me and you'll be wanted for more amounts of money, there's already a bounty on your head. The thing you don't realise, is that we are not as stupid as we look. Did you seriously think that I and Shaw, came alone?" Jake asked, his eyes looked behind Jack and to the top of the hill.

Fifteen riders slowly approached the edge of the hill, their silhouettes in the sun. All with dark clothing, all of them were BlackJack members.

"Isn't this how your father died, Jack? Gunned down and outnumbered?" Shaw asked, finally speaking up as Jack aimed a revolver at the head of Jake from about five feet away.

Jack gritted his teeth and growled in anger, Bill looked over at the angered gunslinger with a slightly concerned look. Rebecca put her hand on Jack's arm.

"Jack...Think." Bill mouthed the words to him, Jack noticed this out of the corner of his eye.

"If you value your life, and the lives of your two friends here. I would turn around, and get the fuck out of here. Or we can gun all of you down right on the spot and I will take your souls to Hell." Jake said in a voice of pure hatred and vicious American venom, Jack continued to have the same facial expression on his face.

Jack did not put down the pistol and kept his eyes on Jake, Shaw slowly looked up at the BlackJack members on the hill.

"We're giving you a chance at life, all three of you. The next time we see you, we will not be so soft. We'll leave your bodies for the buzzards." Shaw warned, Jack slowly lowered the gun down and sighed in disbelief.

"The next time you see us, there will be more than three. You are not going to kill me, you are going to try." Jack viciously responded as he got back on his horse, his two crew members did the same. The three began to ride away from Beecher's Hope, leaving it all for the BlackJacks taking.

"And so it begins Jake, there is going to be bloodshed coming soon." Shaw said, looking at Jake.

"There is going to be gang warfare, and Jack will be the first casualty." Jake responded darkly...


	4. Live life hard!

**Notice: In this chapter you will find an Easter Egg to the first Red Dead, you will be able to find various Easter Eggs as the story progresses. Thought I'd mention it, it adds more fun to the story. Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying it so far, feel free to leave a review behind. Be sure to add critique to what I can improve.**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"They approached us at the scorched remains of Beecher's Hope." Jake said, sitting on a large box in the corner of the room. Jake and Shaw had arrived at the wreckage of the Serendipity, the inside of the rotten steamboat had a strange green glow. Giving the doomed vessel a ghostly feeling to it, civilians say that the boat is haunted.

"So they did, why didn't you bring him back?" Douglas questioned, Shaw then entered the room from the outside.

"We are giving them a chance, we want their numbers to grow. When we see them again, we want to watch them bleed." Shaw said as he leaned into the doorway, Douglas scoffed at this response.

"We can't let them get too big in terms of numbers, we're good at where we are now. Right now, we can overpower them. Who were these folk with Jack?"

"There was some Irish girl, and a tall man with slicked black hair and a fine mustache. Man had to be around six foot and three inches tall." Jake answered, Douglas nodded his head.

"Very well, give them a chance to scramble around. We'll get them at some point, we've got to get used to our surroundings in this new state we are in. We might need to perform a Lewis and Clark style expedition, we will take note of everything around us." Douglas said.

Meanwhile, Jack and his two comrades, were on their way back to the home of Bill Pierce. There was a growing feeling in the back of Bill's head, that something was wrong.

"Hey Jack, ever thought about when our first robbery is going to be?" Bill asked, feeling curious about his gang status.

"I don't know when, I will make arrangements when the time is right to do so." Jack replied, as of now, there was no need to rob any bank or store. The home of Bill Pierce would suffice the three for now.

"I wonder how large this gang will be." Rebecca said, the thought of the new gang life coming into her mind. "You seen how many men that was on the hill back there at your old ranch?"

Jack nodded his head once, that really got him thinking. There was fifteen BlackJack members all aiming down upon him and his newly found friends, even two elite members. The gunslinger knew that this gang must have been huge.

"This gang, the BlackJacks. That isn't no gang, it is a damn militia family. I can only imagine how many more members are at camp. Must be the size of a small army." Jack said in a serious and slightly concerned tone.

"At least they don't inbreed like the Appalachian Hillbillies." Bill joked, getting a good chuckle out of Rebecca and a smirk from Jack.

"So Bill, I already heard from Rebecca about her past life. How was yours?" Jack asked, feeling curious.

"I was born in Texas, in a pretty bad spot. People were rough around where I lived, eventually it would get out of hand. My family made some decision to move up North as far as we could go, we would reach Canada. I spent most of my life up in Canada, I always hated the cold. There was some good game animals up there like Moose and others among those lines, that was the only good thing to me. I hate the cold, I disdain it. I'll do anything to stay from it."

Jack smirked at the last few moments that Bill was speaking, he found Bill's hatred of the cold quite amusing to him.

"I bet you like it when the winter rolls around." Jack would say in sarcasm, Bill chuckled and shook his head.

The three continued to ride over to where Bill Pierce lived, little did they know, another threat was about to make his presence known. It wasn't a member of the BlackJacks, it was a face similar to Jack Marston. Or the offspring of a face similar to Jack Marston, he wasn't in no gang. This man was sort of a lone wolf, he worked for both sides of the society spectrum, he worked with the outlaws and he worked with the law.

BlackJack members had began to scour across the land, looting whatever they could from homes. Some traveled as far up into the Grizzlies Mountains, two members of the BlackJacks had made it to the Aurora Basin. They discovered a cabin right next to the large pond, snow covered the entire area. The two members expected the cabin to be abandoned, the door was shut. The windows were boarded up, once a member tried to open it, the door didn't budge.

"Open up!" One member shouted, no response was given to the BlackJack.

A man was inside of the cabin, dual wielding pistols. He had crouched down in the corner of the small cottage, right behind the bed. The dark blue of his clothing made him blend in to the low light visibility of the cabin's interior. The man had dark colored hair, as well as a mustache and goatee. His hair was fairly long too, but not at shoulder length. He had moved a large piece of furniture in front of the door.

"Come on in." The man said quietly to himself as he clutched his dark blue pistols, then a loud bang was heard from outside the door.

"Kick the door in!" A BlackJack member shouted, another loud bang was heard. The wooden door crashed to the snowy ground on the outside.

"What the Hell?" Another member said, seeing the large piece of furniture in the way. The other member took a few steps back and charged forth, ramming his shoulder into the furniture.

The unknown man within the cabin stooped down low, making sure to keep himself hidden within the shade of the room. He even crawled under the bed as the tall piece of furniture crashed into the wooden planks of the floor, the light from outside the house was enough for him to see. He seen the boots of the two members enter, he aimed both pistols at their feet and followed their movements. Looking down the enhanced sight.

"Ah shit, no one is here. Find something and take it, make sure it is of value. We need some food, a drink of any kind, and some ammo." One of the members spoke, giving the other one orders.

The man opened fire, hitting one of the members on the foot. The gang member screamed out in pain, sprawling into the corner of the house. The other one, in which had gave the orders, looked over at him.

"Jesse!" The gang member shouted out as he looked at his partner's bleeding boot. The man opened fire again, hitting the talking member right in the genitals.

"Fuck!" The member howled in agony as he clutched his balls, he collapsed to the ground as tears ran down his cheeks almost instantly.

The man then made himself known as he slowly rose out from under the bed, giving both members a cold look. The member in the corner groaned and aimed his gun up at the unknown gunslinger.

"Who are you?" The hurt member in the corner, asked while in pain. The man didn't respond and opened fire, the bullet going into the member's chest.

"I am Markus." The man said, revealing his first name to the last member. The one he shot in the manhood, the other member looked up at the man with fear in his eyes now.

"Markus Van Der Linde." The man revealed his full name, the BlackJack member's eyes widened at the sound of the name.

The other BlackJack member was silenced with a fatal shot to the head, the gun of Markus Van Der Linde was smoking from the fresh kills. Markus dragged the bodies out to the snowy ground, the white frost turning into a iron smelling scarlet color. He looted the bodies and discovered BlackJack playing cards, custom cards with the gang's own logo on them. The custom cards were enough evidence to the son of Dutch Van Der Linde, that the two were members of a gang. Markus assumed that this gang knew of his location, and it was time for him to move once again. His supplies were all stashed on his personal stagecoach, clothing was packed in the back of the stagecoach as well as some weapons and food, once Markus gave a whistle. His large white horse approached, pulling the stagecoach along with it. It was more of a wagon, one that a single horse can pull.

"Head down into West Elizabeth." Markus said as he hopped onto the horse's back, snapping the reins down to make it go. Markus began to guide the wagon towards the Blackwater area of West Elizabeth, dangerously close to where the BlackJack camp was.

Markus Van Der Linde was a one night stand, Dutch had roamed into town back whenever the gang first began. Markus was born at a time whenever the Van Der Linde gang consisted of only Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur Morgan. Markus was left behind with his mother, who would die of Tuberculosis when he was at the age of seventeen. Markus had only one intention, find his father.

Markus dreaded at not having a family, he brought it upon himself to travel alone across the country to find his father. He would trace his father's gang across the Grizzlies Mountains and down into Ambarino, right before he made his way into the Grizzlies Mountains from out West. He discovered that his father had been killed by the law, aided by John Marston. This angered Markus, he knew he didn't have a family at all at that point.

Markus was around the age of twenty five when Dutch killed himself by falling off a cliffside at Cochinay, a large fort like village up in the mountains. Now in the year of 1915, Markus Van Der Linde was at the age of twenty nine, the son of the legendary outlaw had a new target, Jack Marston. Since John Marston was the last person that Dutch seen before he died, Markus would stop at nothing until he found Jack and killed him by any means necessary.

(Many Hours Later)

It was the evening, the sun was slowly setting upon the horizon. The purple color of the twilight sky was a sight to see, Jack and his two comrades had safely made it back to the home of Bill Pierce without any sort of problem.

"Man, I wonder if those BlackJacks will come hunting for you. They seemed pretty ready when we are around. Especially when you're around town." Bill said as he headed into his room to put on night clothing. Jack was already in his gear for sleep, the past two days had been rough on his emotions and body.

"I feel like the whole world is after me and closing in, the age of the old West is over. Let's face it, we are all survivors of a bygone era in history. An era this world will never see again, so we've gotta do the best we can out here." Jack would say as he stretched his body out to prepare for the night.

Rebecca was in the middle of closing the curtains when around ten people approached the house, she had watched them come from the side of Annesburg in which trains usually are at, and all the way to the new side. One of them wore a sheep mask, the mask that Sam Taylor usually wore when he fought for the Saint Denis Fighting Pit.

"Jack, Bill, don't get sleepy so quick. We've got company." Rebecca said in concern, yet with a serious tone in her voice. Jack stood up and approached the window to see who it was.

Jack seen the ten fighting veterans of the Saint Denis Fighting Pit, the roster was several times larger. Ten members was just a slight few compared to the total roster, at the head of these men, was indeed Sam Taylor.

"Bill, Bill we've come for you!" Sam called out, wanting to get Bill Pierce's attention. Bill could not hear Sam as he was shutting the door to his room.

"Bill Pierce!"

The three gave no response, Jack headed across the living room and into the hall to knock on Pierce's door.

"What is it?" Bill Pierce asked Jack, who was now outside his door.

"We've got company Bill, seems like these men out here want you especially." Jack answered, Bill came out of the room in an all white pajama outfit with no shoes or socks on. Completely ready for bed.

"Dammit, I'm tired." Bill groaned, that was until he heard voices calling him from out the window and down the hill.

"Bill come out here right now!" Sam Taylor barked, he and his gang of misfit Saint Denis Fighters looking up at his nice house.

"Is Sam this much of a sore loser, Bill?" Jack asked with a slight laugh at the end of his sentence, Bill nodded his head as he approached the window.

"Go away Sam, don't make me come out there and whip your ass once again!" Bill shouted from a few feet away from the window, Sam Taylor and his cronies still couldn't see him.

"Oh, we will be the ones beating your ass tonight. As well as your two friends." Sam responded in defiance of Bill, a man whom was never defeated before in hand to hand combat.

Bill's silhouette then popped into view for Sam Taylor to see, he could only see his silhouette due to the lighting within the house.

"Do you think I was born yesterday?" Bill said, looking down upon Sam Taylor.

Sam Taylor shook his head and slowly removed his lamb masked in anger, giving Bill a hateful look. Eyes glued to the undefeated prize fighter from within the house.

"I implore you to get down here and face me like a man, have ourselves a little brawl like the good old days." Sam said, trying to keep calm as best as he could.

"You implore me?" Bill chuckled. "What fancy words, I shall not do what you tell me. If you want me so badly, come and get me."

"If you insist.." Sam Taylor growled as he hopped off his horse and charged up the hill with the rest of his gang of misfit fighters, all carrying knives or other blade weaponry.

"Shit, they're coming!" Bill growled as he ran towards the door to lock it, Jack headed into his room to grab his cattleman revolver and Rebecca grabbed a kitchen knife since she had no gun.

Sam started to bang on the door and dig into it with his meat cleaver, Isaiah broke in through the window and he crashed through. Cutting his head open in the process, he took the pain and slowly rose to his feet. The other members in Sam's small gang, scrambled for the shattered window.

Jack fired at the window, shooting at all the fighters that dared approached the window. The staggered Isaiah, slammed his arm down on the table and the lantern fell off, the glass shattering and the oil getting all over the wooden floor. Rebecca would run at Sam only to get kicked in the stomach, she staggered back as Sam lit a cigar up. Jack prepared to fire at Sam but Isaiah took the bullet and fell to one knee. Bill Pierce ran in and heaved the big man from the Bronx towards the broken window, throwing him out of it. Isaiah crashed to the ground outside of the window, but it was too late. Sam had dropped the cigar down upon the oil, Jack had landed two shots into the abdomen of the veteran fighter and his last action in life was dropping a cigar onto oil.

The cigar ignited a fire, the flame quickly spread around the room. Rebecca pulled herself to her feet and Bill gasped at the sight, a fire in his home.

"Shit!" Bill shouted as his eyes darted around the room to find a potential source to douse the flames, it would be no use though. The flames climbed higher and higher, eventually reaching the ceiling. The fire continued to eat away and spread around the floor at a fairly quick rate.

"It is no use Bill, we need to move!" Jack shouted, making his way out of the door as the smell of smoke became more intense, and strong. Isaiah was getting up now, but Rebecca dropped him with a falling kick to the outside of the window.

Bill made his way outside of the window too and growled out in anger as he looked down at Isaiah and a few other gang members, one gang member was starting to crawl away.

"Which one of you assholes, gave Sam the idea to do a full on raid of my home, and my property!?" Bill cried, his face red hot with rage.

The member that was crawling away slowly turned his head with a smirk, spitting at the bare feet of Bill Pierce as a sign of total disrespect.

Bill Pierce had enough, and approached the man. Kicking him on the sides, making the misfit fighter roll over to his back. The undefeated fighter grabbed the member of Sam's gang, and pulled him up slightly, with only one arm.

"You were the one that orchestrated this whole thing, you son of a fucking bitch!" Bill growled as he rammed his right fist into the skull of the member, giving him a black eye instantly.

"Sam implored me eh? How about I implore you, to pay for the damage you and your friends fucking caused, you spineless hooligans!" Bill screamed in rage, slamming his elbow stiffly into the forehead of the gang member.

The two stiff elbows to the skull, busted the man open and he began to leak blood all over the place from a gash on his forehead. It was as if his head was a water bottle and the blood was the water pouring out of it, it was how bad and fast the blood came out.

"Bill, I'm going to ask you to calm down." Jack suggested, trying to calm down the livid fighter.

"I can't, I'm sorry. They burnt down my fucking house!" Bill screamed as he fell to his knees, hands on his head in anger.

"I felt the same way Bill. We've gotta move on." Jack said as he looked down the hill and into the town of Annesburg, Bill sighed and then looked up at Jack.

"What do you suggest we do then? Now we've got no home." Bill groaned, Rebecca looked down at Bill and gave him a serious look.

"Well. It seems that we have not much of a choice no more, I guess we should start chopping down trees and building settlements." Rebecca answered with a sigh at the end of her sentence, Jack sighed and looked up at the moon.

"Which means?" Bill asked.

"It means we live life hard." Rebecca added on, the three knew that they would need to work hard to live their life. Then again, life was never easy in the first place..


	5. I've got a plan

Markus Van Der Linde had made his way into the more civilized area of West Elizabeth, he rode silently through the night on his wagon. The son of Dutch was trying to find a new place to camp after being attacked by two members of the BlackJack gang, he figured that the leader of the BlackJacks would dispatch gunmen to search for their fallen members.

The twenty nine year old outlaw rode through all parts of West Elizabeth, he strode through Blackwater and found no spot of refuge. He finally discovered the camp of the BlackJacks, he found the wreck of the Serendipity over by Thieves' Landing.

"Stay here, girl." Markus would say to the shire in which was pulling the wagon along, he went to the back of the large wagon to retrieve a lancaster repeater.

The son of Dutch, made his way down the hill with caution. He had no clue that the doomed steamboat, had gang members within it. The leaders of the gang more so, except for the African American leader of the gang, who preferred to take refuge in Thieves' Landing, and not a rotting boat.

Markus made his approach and slowly made his way onto the side of the boat, the old and dirty floor of the boat creaking beneath his boots. He could hear someone talking from a nearby room, now Markus knew somebody was inhabiting the boat.

"Who could live in this stinking and rusted boat?" He asked himself as he slowly made his way in through a doorway, he looked around in the room in which was only lit by a lantern sitting on a box in the corner of the room.

As Markus entered the room, the sound of indistinct chatter got only louder. He made his way towards the doorway of the next room to his left, he took cover against the wall and listened up for the people talking.

"Ah man, we are mostly out of supplies. We only have the clothes we currently have on, we'll be stinking like bullshit before the week is out. Who is gonna provide food? Where are we gonna bathe? Where are we gonna get new clothes? When is our first heist?" The voice asked, it was the raspy southern voice of Shaw. Shaw sounded like Arthur Morgan if his voice was raised at a slightly higher pitch.

It was then revealed to Markus that this was indeed a gang hideout, now he wondered how many members were in the gang.

"Shaw, we will discuss this tomorrow in Thieves' Landing with everyone else. Do not fret, we're not close to being done. I refuse to let this gang fall apart, I want to retire, not die. I will provide for us all, like I've always had." Douglas Mulligan said, trying to answer Shaw's questions of concern.

"What about Jack Marston, when are we gonna find him? I have strong disdain for that bastard." Shaw would ask, this made Markus raise an eyebrow.

Markus entered the room, he instantly had the guns of the leaders of the BlackJacks, all pointed at him.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?" Douglas asked, keeping his double barrel shotgun aimed at the head of Markus.

"Calm down, I've heard you're looking for a man named Jack Marston. Coincidentally, I'm looking for him too. If you could give me details of his possible location, I'll bring him back to you. Including whoever he rides with, the capture of him alone is more important to me though." Markus answered, waving at the gang leaders to put down their guns.

"How are you going to do such a thing? How are you going to draw Jack out?" Nicholas asked, budding into the conversation.

Markus looked over at Nicholas and smirked, Douglas raised an eyebrow to this.

"I've got a plan, boys." Markus said, sounding exactly like his father.

(Meanwhile in Roanoke Ridge)

Jack Marston, along with Bill Pierce, and Rebecca McIntyre, had all navigated into the heavily forested area of Roanoke Ridge in the state of New Hanover. The three was not too far away from the Doverhill Laboratory, they had no idea of the lab, they didn't go by it as they traveled to their current location.

"Can you find some boots or shoes for me to wear? My feet are getting cold and dirty from all this ground." Bill asked, groaning as he felt his bare feet crunch down on some dead leaves scattered all over the forest floor.

"It isn't gonna kill you to not have any shoes Bill, we're pretty much resorted to hunter gatherers. They didn't have shoes back then." Jack responded as he sat on a large tree stump, thinking about what to do.

Bill chuckled to himself as he took a seat on a fallen log, swiping some dead bits of leaves off of the bottom of his feet. Rebecca leaned against a nearby tree, thinking to herself.

"You're right about the cavemen part, I find it uncomfortable and disgusting to find dead insects and leaves on my feet." Bill sighed, Jack snickered and then rolled his eyes.

"For the champion fighter of the Saint Denis Fighting Pit, the great undefeated one. You sure are a wuss." Jack joked, sounding more like an insult in reality.

"Very funny." Bill growled, getting humiliated by the laughs of Rebecca and Jack. He knew they were joking, Bill was the type of guy to not take jokes though. Some had to be careful of what they said around him.

"Anyways, we've gotta get some resources soon. If we can find some sort of settlement, that should do for one night." Rebecca said as she turned her head towards Jack, and Bill.

"Let's get moving then, head on the nearest path and follow it. We will go until I give the order to stop, then we turn back around and head to the other direction." Jack spoke, getting up from the tree stump.

Let's get moving boys, let's ride!" Rebecca said, feeling hyped up. She was the type of girl to bring the hype among others and uplift spirits.

Bill stood up beside of Jack as they saw Rebecca get on her horse, Jack looked at Bill with a smirk.

"I like that brave attitude of hers, I find it eh.. Nice." Jack said, complimenting his Irish feminine friend.

"I can tell your cock rises, she has some pretty legs." Bill joked, trying to get back at Jack, Jack growled and elbowed Bill in the side.

"Oh shut it, Bill." Jack said, slightly laughing.

The three began to ride on their horses down the main dirt road path, it took them about five minutes before they arrived at Doverhill. Lights were on from within the laboratory, Jack pointed at the lab.

"There, that building is decent sized. Damn near the size of what Bill's house was." Jack said, the three rode towards the lab and hitched their horses on the sides of the building.

Bill caught a glimpse of the interior of the building from outside, there was a lot of devices and gadgets in which looked advanced for the time.

"What the hell is this place?" Bill asked, not expecting an answer.

"I don't know, we'll find out soon enough." Jack answered as he slowly opened the large double doors on the front of the building. The doors creaked as they slowly opened up, the interior of the lab smelled of dust and age.

Some of the machines were rusted, and there was lanterns in which glowed several times lighter than regular lanterns did. There was light bulbs, electric lanterns. Some sort of large machinery in the center of the massive room. The interior of the lab also had a stench, smelled like something or someone had died in the lab many years back. The lab didn't have any rooms like a house, it was all a singular room. It would provide shelter from the harsh outside, panthers were common in the area, as well as black bears.

"This is a very good spot, I like it. Now Bill can quit complaining." Rebecca said, joining a laugh with Jack as she threw another joking insult at the prize fighter.

The three then looked to the backside of the building to see a large antenna tower, the top of it had a circular shape to it. It seemed like you could climb to the top and the metal bars, in which gave the top of the tower the circular shape, could prevent others from falling out. It could also serve as a good lookout spot, to see incoming intruders or passerby.

"That tower is a good vantage point, I'll have Bill do the honors of sleeping up there tonight and watching over us." Jack announced, patting Bill on the shoulder. Bill silently growled, and looked down at Jack.

"Sure." Bill growled as he headed outside, slamming the double doors behind him.

Bill was starting to get fed up with Jack and Rebecca, how they constantly joked at him. The prize fighter could not stand getting picked on, he relished in making others pay for it. He made his way up the ladder, towards the top of the tower.

"Sons of bitches speaking trash about my name instead of respect, I should be the leader of this fucking gang. I'm the one who cold cocked that outlaw shithead with one punch, I can do the same for that Irish whore." Bill said to himself, knowing the others couldn't hear him from within the laboratory.

Bill eventually made it to the top after around thirty seconds of climbing, he was a fast climber and he reached the top fairly quickly. He looked down upon the laboratory, a scowl on his face.

"I don't know how long I'm gonna run with this gang, I know Jack better stop with the bullshit." He growled to himself as he looked down into the lab via the windows, Bill did not know how long he would last with the gang, he feared that his times with this gang wouldn't be long…


	6. Hunted Down

(Chapter 6: Hunted Down)

Morning has broken, it was a beautiful morning as the sun shined on through the cracks between the trees in the forest. It overlooked Doverhill and the laboratory. Bill felt the intense heat from the sun, it is what woke him up. Rebecca, and Jack were looking up at him from down below.

"Bill, it is time to earn our breakfast meal." Jack announced, Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Earn it?" Bill asked as he stood up, stretching out his body to prepare for the coming day. Jack nodded his head.

"I mean, it is time to go hunting. We earn our meal from the animals, you're probably the fittest of this three person gang so far. I would advise you to guard after this shelter while me and Rebecca here go out to hunt." Jack answered, Bill nodded his head.

"Fair enough, good hunting." Bill would go on to say, Jack and Rebecca quickly got onto their horses and made their way towards the Cumberland Forest.

"So. Rebecca, how have you liked the gang so far? Well, it isn't so much of a gang, but a trio." Jack questioned, pondering on how Rebecca liked the gang so far in the early stages.

"I love it so, I love the thrill of adventure. I love the thrills Jackie, when the gang grows in numbers, it would be even better." Rebecca responded, Jack nodded his head.

"Well, once we get some new members in. We will see who the elites of the gang is, we will then set up our first heist and property." Jack would go on to say, Rebecca then thought of the BlackJacks.

"Those men over by Beecher's Hope, they didn't seem to friendly. With all of those men aiming at us, those two men we spoke to. I can imagine that this gang is gonna be nipping on our heels. Life isn't going to be so easy." Rebecca added on, Jack sighed.

"It isn't gonna be easy, when I was in the Van Der Linde gang all of those years back when I was a little boy. We had a rival gang, the O'Driscolls. There was a number of other gangs but those O'Driscolls always seemed to tick off Dutch and my father."

Rebecca yawned and sat up straight on her horse, whipping her head back and letting her mahogany colored hair swing back behind her head. She smiled gracefully as she felt the morning sun on her back.

"So Jackie boy, where are we going to hunt?" Rebecca asked, Jack nodded his head forwards.

"The Cumberland Forest, plentiful of elk, and deer. Also some good black bears, good for big game meat. The black bears are more tame than the large grizzly bears up closer towards the mountains, gotta be careful around the big browns." Jack explained, giving some advice around the hunting of grizzly bears.

The two continued to push onward towards the forest, down the long dirt road path. They didn't know that a man was heading right for the laboratory, not too far away from them.

Bill stood, overlooking the land around him and the laboratory at the top of the tower. Bill noticed the silhouette of a man approaching from down the hill, he couldn't see any particular details of the man due to the light of the sun showing only his shadow.

Bill crouched down, keeping himself in the shade of the top of the tower. Not allowing the sun to reveal his position, the man approached the laboratory in a wagon.

"Hey! Who are you!?" Bill called out, still hiding within the shade.

The man looked around, seeing no one. Hopping off the wagon, he could hear the voice. From above him, he looked in the treetops, and then noticed the tower. The man advanced towards the tower, looking at the top of the tower.

"My name is Markus Van Der Linde, how about you come on out, instead of hiding in the shadows!" The man called out, Bill stood up and made his way towards the edge, letting the light of the sun reveal who he was.

"Leave this place, Van Der Linde!" Bill shouted out in response, looking down at Markus from above.

"I don't take orders, I speak for myself. Only myself, I have no side!" Markus cried out, aiming his lancaster repeater up at Bill.

"You would aim at a man with no gun, I have no firepower. I have my fists, if you put that gun down, perhaps I will come down there." Bill responded to how Markus aimed at him.

"I haven't come for you, whoever you are, I have come for a man known as Jack Marston. This place feels suitable for his location as an outlaw on the run, I traveled up until the early morning hours, searching for him." Markus announced, Bill's eyes widened.

"Listen Markus, I am not too fond of Jack Marston either. I want to beat his ass as much as you do, but I am in need of survival. My house was burnt to the ground, I have no choice."

Markus growled and placed his finger on the trigger, ready to pull it at any moment and end Bill Pierce right on the spot.

"Okay, I relate to you. I have my reasons for wanting to see death face him, his father aided in the death of mine. I want my redemption, it ends with Jack dying, if Jack doesn't die. Then whoever is helping him, does!" Markus screamed in anger, Bill would respond by pointing in the direction in which Rebecca and Jack headed off to.

"They went in that direction, I'm not going to give you any specific locations. I am not ratting them out, play hide and go seek with them!" Bill responded, wanting to keep his life and not have it end on the spot.

"That is enough information, I know they are somewhere in the Cumberland Forest. As dense as it is, I know they will be trying to hide in there. If I return without them though, you will die!" Markus shouted before racing down the dirt road path on the wagon.

"Shit.." Bill Pierce gulped in fear, Markus knew that the two had went off into the Cumberland Forest.

Now Bill feared that he ratted the gang, he tightened his fist up and gritted his teeth. His eyes darted around the wilderness as the sound of the wagon rocking back and forth, slowly faded into silence. Bill heard the wind rustle the leaves in the trees, the birds chirping, all while feeling the cool air chill him.

Meanwhile, Jack had crouched into a bush and was looking around for possible game. Rebecca did the same in a larger bush next to him, she held a lasso and a gun in her hand. Jack decided to try and call a deer closer, he let out a loud whistle, not to get the horse's' attention. A buck approached, it was a fine buck. Slightly bigger than normal, but enough to suffice the trio for now. Rebecca started to twirl her lasso around, peeping around the corner as the deer approached.

The deer would eventually turn around after not being able to find the source of the whistle, Rebecca had her chance to lasso the deer up.

"Aim for the antlers, it will try to tug back, be sure to be strong, and hold it in place." Jack whispered over to the irishman, Rebecca nodded her head and crept out from cover.

She threw the lasso after twirling it around for ten seconds, the loop going around the antlers of the buck before them. The deer started to jerk, and tug around as attempts to escape all while letting out endangered cries.

"Get em'!" Rebecca shouted,"Get em' man!"

Jack approached from the side and slit the throat of the deer, killing it right then and there. No serious damage done to the overall pelt and body of the deer, it was a clean kill. Jack stood next to the deer with his hands on his hips, he then smiled at Rebecca.

"Me and you are a good team, ya know that?" Jack questioned, wanting to know if Rebecca approved.

"We sure are Jackie, now we need to head back to that laboratory." She responded, Jack heaved the deer up and approached his horse.

Once Jack was about to climb onto Arthur, a voice called out from not too far away and down the dirt road path.

"Jack! Jack Marston!" The voice shouted loudly, trying to get his attention.

"That sounds like… Dutch" Jack said to himself, he started to back up slowly. Rebecca looked over at him.

"Come on Rebecca, we need to travel through the woods. I hope you know how to steer a horse around trees, this is going to be rough. I've got a bad feeling about that voice." Jack explained, suggesting a safe way back home.

"Jack, I've come for you!" The voice called out again, this time it was louder and closer than before.

"That isn't Bill, I know for a fact it isn't." Jack said to himself as he, along with Rebecca rode through the woods. The two being careful to avoid trees, not wanting to fall off their horses and give their position away.

Once Markus Van Der Linde arrived at where he presumed the two to be at, he noticed a small puddle of blood on the ground from where the deer's throat was slit by Jack moments earlier. He crouched down and looked all around for possible tracks of some sort, Markus took in a deep breath and everything went calm and focused. He had activated a sense called "Eagle Eye," and he noticed slightly smaller splotches of blood on the ground, and horse hoofprints. Two separate tracks, both leading in the same direction.

"At long last, I've found you, Jack." Markus growled as he went down the main path on his wagon, going back towards the Doverhill Laboratory.

A couple of minutes went by with an anxious Bill Pierce, finally getting some relief as Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre arrived in on their horses. Jack's horse carrying the carcass of a deer, it looked like it was in perfect condition.

"Jack, you've got somebody looking for ya." Bill announced, Jack already knew that somebody was hunting him down, he didn't know who it was though.

"Well. I already knew that, somebody was calling out for me." Jack answered as he hopped off Arthur and heaved the dead buck onto his shoulders.

"Somebody on a wagon, a man by the name of Markus Van Der Linde."

Jack's heart jumped into his throat once he heard the last name of his hunter, he didn't know that Dutch had kin looking for him. He didn't know that Dutch had a son, his heart began to beat faster, his mind raced.

"Must be Dutch's boy." Rebecca said to herself as she walked into the lab to set up a table for the three to eat at.

"I know, I just… Dutch never said that he had a son." Jack said with a raised voice out of panic, he placed his hands on his hat and paced back and forth.

"Well, he has come to kill you. I would advise you to hide." Bill responded from above, giving the news straight forward.

"No, I don't think so. I'm going to try to talk it out with him." Jack would respond in a slightly angry tone.

"I've got too many damn people after me already, I've only been the leader of this trio for about three days or so, and I've already got bastards hunting my ass down!" Jack growled out in anger.

"Why would you want to talk it out with a man who wants you dead, his whole life?" Bill asked, starting to question Jack's standards a bit.

"Because he could be useful in the gang."

"Useful, heh." Bill chuckled, he couldn't picture a man as dangerous as Markus, to be fit in the gang.

A few more minutes passed by before Jack seen the white covering of the wagon approaching, it was indeed the same man as before.

"Jack Marston!" The man called out once more, Bill looked down at Jack.

Bill nodded towards the young gunslinger, making Jack take cover behind a crate in which was against the wall.

Bill would wait until Markus arrived directly in front of the laboratory before he would speak, the heart of Jack got faster and faster with each footstep and the crackle of gravel under the hoofs of the mighty shire horse, in which was pulling the wagon.

"I don't know you friend, but they wasn't in that direction. I would come on down here, I'm pretty sure the mayor of Blackwater would like to see you sway in the wind, on the end of a noose." Markus growled, immediately aiming at Bill Pierce.

"No, Van Der Linde. I am Jack Marston, and I want to cut a deal." Jack instantly interrupted, right before Markus could pull the trigger on the lancaster repeater.

Markus aimed his gun back down, away from Bill, giving Jack a devious grin.

"I have hunted for you, I wanted your father, as it turns out, I am too late. Killing you would be just fine though."

"Too bad, Markus Van Der Linde. Is that all your family enjoys, being murderous bastards?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Does your family enjoy dying? Jack?" Markus retorted, Jack showed signs of anger as he looked towards the ground with a face that could tell you, that something was boiling within him.

"Your father was gunned down, your mother died. The whole Van Der Linde gang pretty much died, the key members at least. You viewed them as all uncles, an ants. Did your uncle enjoy dying, Mr. Arthur Morgan was his name." Markus would go on to say, Jack began to reach for his revolver.

"If you want me, Markus.." Jack said quietly."Then you will have to turn my dead body in."

Jack grabbed his cattleman revolver and looked at Markus, Markus was like a mirror image of Dutch, he looked exactly like him and even sounded a bit like him.

"Fair enough" Markus said at a quick speed before locking onto Jack with his lancaster repeater, pulling the trigger, Jack was fast though, and took cover behind the crate.

Rebecca looked outside and seen the commotion, she didn't have any gun yet, she would try and save Jack though.

Rebecca had to use a good bit of strength to heave up a heavy box, it was full of large pieces of broken machinery. She let out a grunt once she shoved it through the window, Jack jumped out of the way. Markus fired once Jack was in view, the crate managed to take the bullet and block Jack.

Markus ran behind a nearby tree to take cover, the wagon began to move away from view as the horse was spooked. Jack fired at the tree, fanning the hammer as he took a few steps back. The bullets ate away at the bark and slowly chipped through the tree, Markus growled as the bullets was so close to hitting him.

"I'd help you if I could!" Bill called out as he watched from above, getting a good view of the conflict below.

"I don't need you right now Bill!" Jack shouted back as he fired two rounds from his revolver at the tree, Markus quickly shifted out from behind said tree, maneuvering behind another one.

Rebecca took a machete out and charged at Markus, the son of Dutch seen her coming. He pretended like he didn't see her, when she got close, Markus bashed the bottom of his repeater into the jaw of the irishman.

Rebecca grunted in pain and fell to her back, blood coming out from her mouth via chipped teeth. She groaned and slowly rolled over on to her stomach, quickly crawling up to her feet.

"BlackJacks attack!" A voice shouted, it was the voice of Douglas Mulligan.

Suddenly, around twenty men began to charge from the bottom of the hill. Douglas and Jake, leading the charge with their guns in the air. As it turned out, Markus didn't come alone.

Jack seen the silhouettes coming into view now and his eyes widened, twenty members and that wasn't all of them. Several more were back at camp, he looked up at Bill and then at Rebecca, Rebecca was being used as a human shield by Markus.

Markus aimed one of his blue colored revolvers at Jack, as he made his way out from cover with Rebecca in front of him.

"One move, and this irish girl gets it!" Markus shouted out loudly, an evil grin on his face with Rebecca struggling in his grasp.

It was twenty BlackJacks and one Markus, making the total number against Jack and his two members, twenty one to three. Jack stepped out of cover with his hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing!?" Bill screamed, his mind racing on how Jack would surrender and not choose death over humiliation of submitting.

Jack was playing on what he thought was smart, he had an idea in mind. Jack knew there would be no chance of taking on the forces of the BlackJacks and the intelligence and will power of Markus Van Der Linde. If Jack could rally up the inmates at the prison and rebel against the law, he had a feeling of success. While being aided by Rebecca, and Bill. Then he would have enough numbers to combat the BlackJacks.

"Wise choice, Marston. Or else I'll have this bitch here, killed." Markus said, shoving Rebecca out and in front of Jack.

"Jackie, I.. I'm sorry." Rebecca apologized, knowing that she failed to defend her leader.

"No, Rebecca. Don't be sorry, I love your bravery. Stay strong." Jack said as he went down to his knees, furthering his signs of surrender.

"I admire her bravery too, Marston. She's a tough one, I only take who needs to be taken. That person is you, that other man on the tower and this Irish whore before me, they can run, they can run and never look back." Markus spoke, complimenting Rebecca on her bravery as he looked down at her.

Jake Lanza, and Douglas Mulligan approached from behind. The other BlackJack members stayed close and watched every movement.

"It was only a matter of time before you would be eventually caught, we don't think the prison in Blackwater would be enough though. Sisika Penitentiary is where you shall go, the law shall see the end of the cowboy era once and for all." Douglas said, looking over towards Markus and Jake.

"It is about damn time it comes to an end, people are too pussy whipped to be with society. Anti-social cowards." Jake growled, showing his disdain and hatred of the era of cowboys.

"The newspaper is what I cannot wait to see, Jack Marston hanging." Markus laughed. A cocky grin on his face.

"Markus, you aren't like your father. Dutch opposed law, he hated civilization. You are nothing but a different man, I bet Dutch would never have wanted to see you. You would be a total failure in his eyes." Jack said in defiance. Markus nodded his head.

"Words shall not matter when your brains are fried by the electric chair." Jake responded, taking up side with Markus.

Jack rolled his eyes as Jake approached him, a sinful smile slowly growing. Rebecca made her way from Jack and could only watch in horror along with Bill, hopeless against the great numbers.

Jack didn't say anything, his only act of defiance, was spitting on Jake's face. The greatest act of disrespect in the eyes of others.

Jake would respond by slamming his double barrel shotgun right into the skull of the young gunslinger before him, knocking him out.

"I'd kill this son of a bitch, I will not have any act of fucking disrespect tarnishing the BlackJack gang!" Jake screamed in rage, pissed off at the act of disrespect.

"Calm down Jake, he shall die soon enough." Douglas reprimanded, Jake was seething in absolute rage.

"I'll have his corpse fed to the gators in the swamps of Lemoyne, after he has his final moments." Jake growled as he dragged Jack along the ground, dragging his face through the dirt.

Rebecca was seething in rage, she couldn't help herself though, tears began to stream down her face slowly as she weeped in silent anger. Bill stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. Although Rebecca shown the bravery of that of a man, she was still a female, and her heart of great kindness was showing now. Even the boldest have their moments….


	7. You have the right to be silenced

(Chapter 7:You have the right to be silenced.)

Jack groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, he was laying on his back on something. He slowly rolled over onto his stomach, and staggered up to his knees. He was going out into the water, one person was rowing him, a man in a hood.

"Where are you taking me?" Jack asked, looking around to see his surroundings. His father had been taken to this prison long before him. Unfortunately, John had stories of experience, Jack would never hear them.

"Sisika Penitentiary." The hooded man spoke, looking up at Jack, the man shown signs of old age. Jack suddenly remembered that he had been captured by Markus Van Der Linde, and many members of the BlackJacks.

"Ah, okay." Jack responded, sounding like he didn't care about where he would end up at.

"They're gonna have you working on a chain gang for a couple of days before you are put in the electric chair, or that is what the man, Markus, said to me."

"I know" Jack answered, as the canoo slowly approached the shore of Sisika Penitentiary. Sisika Penitentiary was a large prison, stationed on a lone island. Close to both, Saint Denis, and Annesburg.

Jack Marston still had his normal clothing on, wearing the same exact outfit as his father. Jack also took Arthur Morgan's beige colored jacket after he passed on, he had left that at Lake Don Julio.

(Meanwhile at Thieves' Landing)

Markus Van Der Linde, and Douglas Mulligan walked on the boardwalk over the dirty, swampy waters of Thieves' Landing. Several pelicans and boars inhabited this area, providing the BlackJacks some provisions for the time being.

"How did you know where Jack was located, Markus?" Asked Douglas, curious on how he knew where Jack was taking shelter at.

"A man told me, I don't know his name. He is tall, slick back short hair, had a fine mustache. Looked like a bare knuckle fighter." Markus answered, Douglas' eyes widened at the sound of the description.

"That sounds like Bill Pierce of the Saint Denis Fighting Pits, sounds like how he is seen in the pictures." Douglas went on to say in slight shock.

"How do you know?" Markus questioned,"You come from lands, West of the Grizzlies Mountains."

"As my gang got closer to the mountains from the Western side of them, we noticed several newspaper articles about the Fighting Pit over in Saint Denis. It had a picture of Bill Pierce, or the man you're describing." Douglas explained.

The two then entered the mostly populated area of Thieves' Landing, where most of the houses were located.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the BlackJack crew, I have come with some good news. We have successfully captured our target, or my target at least, by the help with this man here." Douglas pointed at Markus once he finished his sentence.

"Markus Van Der Linde." Douglas continued, Markus nodded his head as others looked at him in awe and surprise.

"We've done away with a possible gang rivalry, you have all of us to thank." Markus answered, as Jake, and Shaw approached from behind, as well as twenty other members.

"Well isn't that all fine and dandy?" Jake said with a grin on his face, making his way over towards the Thieves' Landing Bar to get a shot of whiskey for the day. To celebrate Jack's capture.

"Now, we shall celebrate a fine victory, and a major accomplishment now that we have finally made it past the Grizzlies Mountains, we soon shall continue out West. Towards Annesburg, there is a bridge located in that area." Douglas announced before Markus and Shaw approached him.

The three began to make their way towards the large wrecked steamboat, it was a good walking distance away. They had hitched their horses in that area.

"Now, when is our first heist? I know capturing Jack is an accomplishment and all, but we still have some things to do. We still need clothes, food, and other essentials apart from a shelter." Shaw questioned, sounding concerned.

"I don't know when our first robbery is going to be, but it needs to be small. We don't want big targets on our backs when we have first arrived here, I suggest that we go out to hunt animals. I will dispatch some small squadrons to hunt in specific locations, where certain animals live. We can kill those for food, and craft any other items they may hold of value." Douglas explained, giving Shaw some plans for the days to come.

"Sounds good, we will also need a new camp. Somebody is gonna see us at some point, that will most likely get them talking." Shaw suggested, Douglas nodded.

"Don't stress, Shaw. We are fine where we are, most of us are skilled in gun usage anyway if we do get attacked."

(At Doverhill)

"Don't stress Rebecca, we are doing alright. We will be fine without Jack, at least for now." Bill said in a gentle, soft spoken voice.

"I know we are fine, we need to get Jack back at some point or another." Rebecca said, sounding concerned and worried for her newly found best friend.

"We will, we just need more members. Sisika Penitentiary has a shit ton of guards, we aren't gonna get inside that fort of a prison, all by ourselves."

"How are we gonna get more members, Bill?" Rebecca asked, her voice sounding shaky.

Bill sat there, and thought for a moment as Rebecca began to eat the provision meat from the deer. Apart from a great fighter, she was a fantastic cook.

"I've gotta get something planned out, it will take me a bit." Bill answered, sounding sorry for Jack. He began to get worried that Jack could be executed before they even got a chance to perform the rescue.

"Well, please hurry. I don't doubt you and you being a potential leader of the gang if Jack dies, I can see it happening. I… I just think that Jack knows what he is doing, he comes off to me as that type of man. You do too, there is just something about Jack though." Rebecca sighed, getting up and looking outside.

It was just getting to noon, the time was 11:59 AM, and Bill along with Rebecca, their thoughts were in shambles as of now. None of them had a clue on what to do, Rebecca's eyes suddenly went wide and she looked at Bill.

"Jack told me of a place, it isn't too far away from here. It is up in Ambarino, a decent sized mountain. It is the spot where a man by the name of Arthur Morgan died, Jack told me that he strangely gets great ideas from this spot. Take a nap in that spot, I want to test this theory of Jack. Once you come back, tell me what you dreamed of." Rebecca suggested, Bill nodded his head and then smiled.

"That is a good move, I never believed in spirits or ghosts. I shall see how it goes, if I get some weird dream then that theory is proven wrong." Bill responded as he stretched his arms and legs out with a groan of pleasure as he stretched.

After a couple of minutes of eating their morning meal, Bill headed out. Rebecca would guard Doverhill with her life, she didn't think that no one else would arrive. The irishman began to think about the BlackJacks, more and more of them keep coming. She almost got shot by fifteen members, and Doverhill was stormed hours earlier by twenty new faces of the BlackJack gang in which see has seen.

Bill eventually arrived at the spot where Arthur succumbed to his Tuberculosis, the spot where he watched the sun rise as he passed on from this world. Bill stood at the bottom of the mountain, a strange feeling entered Bill. The prize fighter looked up and noticed some antlers moving behind a rock up at the top, he wondered why a deer would be up there alone.

Bill slowly walked up the hill, he was given some spare boots from Rebecca. So Bill didn't have to damage and get his bare feet dirty, for a man, Bill's skin was very smooth than a male's skin normally is. So walking on bare feet in certain areas hurt him, and annoyed him. As Bill approached the top, he drew the revolver slowly from the holster as he seen the antlers getting more bigger as he got closer.

The strange feeling got stronger, as if he had some strange connection with this deer before him. He felt like he could trust this deer, and tame it. Then a voice entered his mind.

"Put the gun down, boah. You don't need it right now anyway." A raspy southern voice said in his head, with the way the voice said "boy," you could easily tell it was Arthur's voice.

Now, Bill had never seen or even heard of Arthur Morgan, he only heard of it when speaking with Jack. Rebecca never heard of him either, or they never knew him personally at least. They had seen his name in newspaper articles from back in the past.

Since Bill had never heard this voice in particular, he instantly believed that this was the Deer telepathically speaking to him. The deer must have been Arthur Morgan's spirit animal, it was the only way it made sense to Bill. The prize fighter of Saint Denis slowly lowered the revolver back into the holster.

"I've come here on behalf of a man known as Jack Marston, I'm assuming you've seen him before." Bill said, sounding like he was guessing to himself.

The buck didn't move his lips, but the telepathic voice in Bill's head spoke.

"Jack, he has been up here before. I known him when I yet walked this Earth in a human body, I only known him for a small period of time." The voice of Arthur Morgan said in Bill's head.

"Okay, he wanted me to come up here. To give me some advice.." Bill stopped speaking and snickered to himself.

"I'm talking to a fucking deer, a.. Ah geez.." Bill laughed to himself, the buck let out a loud bellow. Letting Bill know, to be quiet.

"You better shut that damn mouth." The spirit of Arthur spoke once more, Bill looked baffled.

The buck approached the edge of the cliff, looking over the large forest and hills below him. The deer looked back at Bill before facing out into the wilderness once again.

"I shall return." Arthur said, Bill heard in what sounded like a tree branch snapping behind him. He turned to see nothing was there, he turned around again and… The deer had vanished.

Bill walked to the edge and peered over the side to see if the buck jumped from the cliff, he didn't see it anywhere on the ground far below him. The deer must have went back into the afterlife or wherever it came from, some spiritual realm.

Bill raised an eyebrow and sat down, laying against a rock. He set up camp around him, building a tent under the rock that gave the cliffside the shady spot, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

(2 hours later)

Bill slowly opened his eyes to see a man standing before him, a man with brown colored hair. He wore a blue everyday shirt and a black hat, the hat seemed slightly crooked. Bill sat up, wondering who this man was.

"Who are you?" Bill went on to ask, the man turned around and looked down at the prize fighter.

"The name is Arthur, Arthur Morgan." The man said, revealing his name.

"Jack told me you were dead, how the hell are you alive?" Bill asked, sounding a bit confused yet nervous.

"You're dreaming boy, I can connect to you from beyond the grave. I had the same visions when I went to sleep, my father passed away when I was young, so did my only girlfriend, and son. I actually had a family of my own believe it or not. When they all passed on, I seen memories in my dreams. I spoke with them in my dreams, I'm doing the same with you."

Bill raised an eyebrow, the dream felt so real. He was living the dream, literally. Although the moment was very amazing, to be connecting with a person he never met, he was essentially speaking to a ghost.

"Anyway, I was told to come here for advice. My friend, and fellow gang member, Jack Marston. Has been captured, he was captured by a man named Markus Van Der Linde." Bill explained, Arthur looked very surprised.

"Jack, in a gang? Ah shit, that boy never learns. Dutch has a boy too? Never knew that."

"Well, you still talk with Dutch wherever you are, right?" Bill asked.

"No, I am in a very beautiful place. People are all friendly, we all live peacefully. No diseases, no violence, no fights. Just harmony, I haven't seen Dutch at all. He's… Somewhere else probably. I figured we could all get along when we arrive in a world beyond worlds, I figured we can all put the past behind us. It doesn't work that way unfortunately." Arthur answered, Bill then heard footsteps coming behind him.

"You said something about Jack, defend him. Defend him with your life." A very raspy voice spoke, Bill turned to see none other than John Marston.

"You must be John Marston." Bill said, nodding his head towards the cowboy before him.

"Indeed I am, we have came to give you some help. There is a fort around here somewhere, Fort Wallace." John began to say, the spirits of Arthur and John began to give Bill some much needed advice.

(Sisika Penitentiary)

Jack was pushed towards the large steel gates of the penitentiary, he looked up and seen that the walls had barbed wire at the tops. Some of the barbed wire had the brown look of dried up blood, blood from the people who tried to climb over. It was an ominous feeling that the fort of a prison was giving off, as the rusty steel gate opened, it let out a loud creak. The creak of the steel was loud and it hurt to hear it, two heavy set guards stood at the front. These guards were ready to fire at any given moment, Jack gave them a cold look, they gave a cold look back.

The island was a huge marshland, it was muddy everywhere. Working conditions were horrible, forced labor on the inmates, this prison shown no mercy, and no sympathy. Penal labor was for everybody, the most common form of it was of a chain gang.

Once Jack entered the large penitentiary, he noticed that most of the inmates were African Americans. After all, the civil war wasn't so long ago. The south was still considered bad among the colored people, there was also several white men and women, the majority was of African Americans.

As Jack hobbled past the guards in his shackles, he gave them a look and stopped for a second. Both guards turned towards him, ready to aim and fire at any moment.

"Fuck you." Jack simply said, straightforward and to the point. The guards smirked.

"You have the right to be silenced." A guard growled as he aimed his rifle at Jack's head, point blank. Jack kept a hateful glare on his eyes as he entered the prison.

"I'll be silenced soon enough." Jack snapped back as he was pushed forward by a guard, escorting him to where he needed to be.

(Back at Doverhill)

Rebecca twiddled her fingers while sitting at the table, she was feeling anxious, but she tried to remain brave. The irishman felt that the gang was nothing without Marston, she wouldn't know that she and Bill could run the gang all by themselves with their brains.

Bill entered the laboratory after about thirty minutes of waiting for Rebecca, she looked over at him as he stood in the doorway. She raised an eyebrow, wanting an answer or something to come out of Bill's mouth.

"I have received help, help from beyond this world. We need to move, I've got a plan. This is a good one."


	8. Make the move

**A/N: This is a huge warning, this chapter and throughout the story from here on out will most likely contain some offensive language. Any racial slurs, or offensive actions in this story is to fit the time period of it. Please know that I am not a racist in real life, nor do I condone racism in any shape or form. It only fits in this story because of the time period. **

**Otherwise, please enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review on what could be done about it and what I can improve. **

* * *

(Chapter 8: Make the move)

About half a week passed by with Bill and Rebecca working together, and Jack suffering through obedience to the law. The two decided to wait for the intensity of the past few days of being introduced into gang life, to subside. It would be now that they made their move, the first step in the plan was to win support of a small chunk of the American Army. Their target, was Fort Wallace.

The two had discovered an indian chief over by Fort Wallace in the Wapiti reserve, they gained an idea about making the natives trust them. Bill Pierce and Rebecca had seen a native american being taken from the reserve to be held a prisoner to the military squadron at Fort Wallace, that indian man happened to be the son of the chief.

The next day, Bill Pierce along with Rebecca McIntyre, made their way into the Wapiti Indian Reserve. The indians looked them up and down as they made their way over to the chief's tipi to speak with him. Bill was the first to enter, the wife of the chief was crying into his shoulders.

"Hello friend, how are you doing?" Bill asked, trying to give a positive approach to his conversation. The chief looked up at Bill while he sat cross legged in front of the fire lit in the center of the small space.

"I and my tribe are doing fine, we could be doing better. My son has been taken in by cruel soldiers at Fort Wallace, we're getting tired of always being harassed by them. It has been passed down from generation to generation." The chief spoke, Bill nodded his head as Rebecca entered the tipi.

"What is your name, bud?" Rebecca asked as she sat down too, across from the chief and his sobbing wife.

"I am Chief White Stag, my son is named FireMaker. If you can get him back somehow, it will be greatly appreciated." The chief explained, offering the names of him and his son to Rebecca and Bill.

"Don't worry White Stag, we'll get your son back. We'll get him back soon." Bill responded, patting the chief on his shoulder as Rebecca stroked White Stag's wife hair to calm her and soothe her. Rebecca had a face of sorrow for the wife as she listened to her sobs of hopelessness, she looked up at Bill with the same look.

Bill nodded his head down at Rebecca, it was time for them to make the move. The two then left the Indian Reserve, then making their way to the closest town, in which was Annesburg. They passed on the bridge over the Lanaheechee River, making their way into the civilized part of the mining town.

"As it turns out, I have some spare money in my pockets, not all of it burned with my house. Should be enough to get us a gun or so." Bill said, digging in his pockets to feel that he had some left over currency.

"And if we don't have enough?" Rebecca said, wondering how it would be if they didn't have enough.

"We're getting the guns regardless of the situation, if it needs to be done so, this will be our first robbery. Forget Jack for now, we need resources, and we need to stick with the plan." Bill responded, he would get guns to storm Fort Wallace.

After getting to the gunsmith, Bill and Rebecca stood in front of the shop and looked at each other.

"I want you to sneak into a room right behind the counter, if the man fails to give me both guns. Then you sneak up behind him and knock him out, we don't need him dead." Bill explained, Rebecca nodded, and made her way down the alley and then behind the building.

Bill entered as if he was a normal citizen, the gunsmith instantly knew who he was.

"Ah, the legendary Bill Pierce himself. Never had such a great man enter my shop, what could I get for you?" The smith asked, seeming very excited as if he was an ecstatic fan.

Bill began to browse the catalog, seeing all that the gunsmith had. He noticed that the Carbine Repeater was in stock and decided to choose it to buy.

"Carbine Repeater, I want the cougar engraving." Bill ordered, the gunsmith nodded and grabbed the rifle esque gun from the counter.

"Well, you've gotta pay for it my friend." The smith said, Bill started to bring up his guard, he assumed that Rebecca had did as was told of her to do.

"I know." Bill simply said, pulling out the forty dollars in cash he had in his pocket.

"I'm sorry, that isn't enough." The smith said in an apologetic tone, Bill nodded his head as he understood.

"Listen, I need that gun for a good measure. I am going to work for Fort Wallace, I need that gun, partner, please."

There was a moment of silence, the floorboards creaked behind the counter and down the hall. The smith looked around the corner and seen Rebecca McIntyre trying to take a stealthy approach. The gun owner began to get suspicious.

"You don't need to sneak down this hall, Rebecca, if you've come to get a gun, then just come through the front doo.." The smith couldn't finish what he was going to say when a throbbing hit slammed into the back of his skull, knocking him out cold.

Bill Pierce had picked up the Carbine Repeater himself, and bashed it into the back of the gunsmith's head. Rebecca then looked down at the body and back up at Bill.

"Thanks for the distraction." Bill said with a chuckle as he grabbed another Carbine Repeater off the wall for Rebecca.

"Let's move, before people enter." Rebecca suggested, the two veteran fighters of the Saint Denis Pits, left, and rode towards Fort Wallace with their newly equipped guns.

(Sisika Penitentiary)

Jack was chained up with two African American folk, along with one white man. The four worked on a chain gang together, slamming their hammers into the stones. Some carried large wooden logs around for construction of more large foundations on the island.

Jack had befriended one of the African Americans he worked with, his name was Jeremiah and he had a brother, Joe. Their parents were both slaves before the Civil War broke out, the brothers were sent to a prison for no reason when they were discovered by angry Confederate Veterans.

Jeremiah and Joe both hated the South, they shown no remorse to anyone they met in the South. They hated the weather, they hated the people, they even hated the children for the brothers knew that the southern children would grow to be the same as the adults.

Joe worked separate from Jeremiah, Jack felt sorry for the brothers. The two brothers had no idea of where their parents had gone once they were separated, they haven't seen them for a long time.

Joe groaned loudly as he heaved up the heavy hammer above his head, then screaming out to try and draw out strength. He slammed the hammer down, the weight jerking his arms down and making him nearly release the hammer. If Joe fell, everyone else in his little group would fall down and receive injuries.

Jeremiah snarled, looking out of the corner of his eye to see his brother suffering. A rage had been boiling deep within him since day one at the prison island, not a single day went by when he wasn't pissed.

A guard walked up behind Joe, with a whip in hand. Jack noticed the guard approaching and he looked over at Jeremiah, knowing what was about to happen.

"Come on, push it boy!" The guard barked, Joe tried lifting up the hammer, and his arms shook, and rattled. His muscles failed on him, the sun had been beating down upon them ever since they woke up to work. Every day was like this for them all, even the whites got the whip.

The guard then slammed the whip down upon the bare back of Joe, the sound of the leather hitting the flesh gave off an unforgiving stinging noise. A large welt in which had formed from constant abuse burst, blood splattered everywhere behind Joe. Jeremiah heard his brother howl in agony, he began to growl and his teeth were gritted in anger.

"Jeremiah, hold in in brother, I've been in your situation before. I have felt the same emotions, I've lost a friend before." Jack said, trying to calm Jeremiah down.

"You can't imagine the pain our kind goes through, we are humiliated every day by the guards. Stupid art made by these southern honkies, they laugh at us, call us racial shit." Jeremiah explained, tears of anger welling up in his eyes.

"I've never been in your situation, not to that extent anyway. You and I, we both lost our parents. My mother passed away last year, my father passed away three years before she did." Jack responded, he could tell that Jeremiah couldn't handle it anymore.

"These damn chains cannot hold me, they can't hold me forever." Jeremiah growled, at this point, he would erupt in anger.

"Stop it!" Jeremiah shouted in rage, getting the guard to turn around and look at him from behind.

"Those words don't do us any good, you've got welts on your back too. I can make you cry like a little bitch just the same."

Jeremiah growled, another guard approached and freed Joe, and only Joe. Jack gasped as he seen the brother of Jeremiah roll along the ground in agony, clawing at the grass and tearing it from the dirt. The leader of the prison watched from afar, the name of the owner was William Barlow.

"Stop talking and make that nigger work!" Barlow shouted from afar with a smirk, Jeremiah growled at the racial slur and balled up his fist. The guards decided to rub it in.

"Look at the coon getting all mad!" A guard shouted, right in front of Jeremiah. Jack couldn't believe his ears and he began to feel bad for every African American in the prison.

"We are all tired, you sons of bitches. Give us all, some fucking water." Jeremiah growled, looking up at the guard with hateful intentions.

The guard pressed the muzzle of his revolver against the forehead of Jeremiah, the heart within Jack began to beat faster. The young gunslinger was powerless, his weaponry had been stripped from him and all his belongings.

"You won't be getting anything from us, you blue gummed moon cricket!" The guard behind him growled, obviously speaking to Jeremiah. Jack looked over his shoulder to see the guard aiming his repeater down at Joe.

"Stop this, they've suffered enough. Joe has suffered, now you aim a gun at the poor man. What the hell is wrong with you all!?" Jack demanded an answer, no answer was given to him.

"You can stay out of this, you Godless outlaw." William Barlow chimed in from afar, Jack rolled his eyes.

Jeremiah dropped the hammer in defiance against the superior power of the guards and heavy law enforcement around, the guard before him raised an eyebrow.

"Pick the hammer up, now." The guard growled, ordering Jeremiah to pick the hammer back up and get back to work, Jeremiah didn't listen.

"Pick the damn hammer up, I'm giving you the count of five!" The guard behind Jack and Jeremiah shouted, Joe was still writhing in agony with a foot of the guard pinning him down.

The other prisoners were forced to look away by the sting of whips, they could all hear what was going on around them.

Jeremiah didn't listen, he refused to obey the law. He stood on his knees in defiance, not picking up the hammer and keeping his angry glare up at the guard in front of him.

"Five..Four..Three..Two.." The guard counted down, looking at the guard over Joe.

Jeremiah's eyes widened when he heard the shot of the repeater go off, he heard his brother fall silent. Jack's heart jumped into his throat.

"Damn you!" Jeremiah screamed as he knew his brother had been shot from this world, William approached the scene and looked down at Jeremiah.

"Let ol' Jeremiah suffer, the coon earned the suffering from inheritance. We have the white man's burden, I wanna watch em' bleed." William Barlow growled, rubbing the death of Joe into Jeremiah pretty hard.

Jack looked over at Barlow with hatred, the dirty middle aged bastard had to pay for what he has done to the brothers. Jack sworn upon it, he clenched his fists tightly.

"You're an asshole, Barlow. We all have no burden, we all suffer equally within this prison. We all die equally as human beings, we all bleed red, race or religion shouldn't divide us. Yet, you fools allow it to be so." Jack growled, William looked at the young gunslinger.

"Your concepts seem strange for your history, Jack. I've heard stories about your father being here, you're nothing but your father's bitch. That is all you are, he lived his life and he died along with the era of the outlaws. The old west is dead, you're the last of a kind." William responded, trying to rub humiliation in Jack now.

"Well if the old west is dead, what age are we in?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. William stood silently for a moment before answering Jack.

"War, there is a war going on in Europe. The Great War, you'll be very lucky if the United States gets involved in it. Once this war is over, the United States shall rebuild itself. If you're alive then, you shall be killed. This whole country is changing for the better, it will be better without your kind."

Jack nodded his head and then gave William a cold stare, not taking his eyes off of him even if he was forced too.

"This country is changing, it will not be for the better. I can see it all, racial violence, wrongful judgement, prejudice of religion, and many wars after this one. Maybe if civilization wasn't a thing, none of this would have happened. With all these new towns springing to life, I dread what will come when my past is long and gone. One hundred years from now, it will be different but also the same. New life on this world, but the same old bullshit from our time." Jeremiah chimed in, looking up at William. Jack decided to speak again too.

"He's right William, all of these racial problems. It is gonna remain here, society will go to big lengths for change. They will try to change it with violence, which is what outlaws and the gunslingers from the dead era from a few years ago, did. The Van Der Linde gang despised the civilization expansion, we hated big cities, I still do. With the rise of the Cornwalls, people of every kind will have greed in their minds."

William chuckled, seeming like he didn't care a single bit for what Jack was saying. William didn't know that it would be the truth so many years later, it all went down as Jack had thought of and dreamt of.

"Your kind, the racist, greedy, high in power fools, you will divide us all! You and your people will ruin America, if it isn't ruined already. It is not the home of the free and the brave, it is home of the racists, the home of greed. All of it remains because of the brave, this whole country will be demonized one day." Jack growled in shame.

"Let it be demonized, we all will not be alive one hundred years from now. We won't have to care, let America ruin itself. Let the country die and decay, maybe in a million years. People will return to America again, maybe at some point in the 3000s. They will find America in ruins, left behind buildings and the skeletons of the dead will be all that remains. Maybe then, you'll have your change. It is a damn shame you will not be alive to see it." William sighed as he walked away, Jack and the others were forced back to work.

(Fort Wallace)

Rebecca had borrowed a bow from Chief White Stag, she was given a bundle of arrows as well. The irishman didn't want no one to hear her kills, including Bill. They both wanted a quiet approach, they wanted to attack in the cover of night. So they did, they would wait until midnight to move. Both of them got plenty of rest before making the move once more.

The two hid within the bushes and shrubbery close by the fort, all was quiet except for the wind in which blew the leaves on the trees. They also had equipped their carbine repeaters, just incase if things went south. The light of the moon gave the two their only source of guidance, they could see the hats of the guards within the fort in silhouette form via the bright light.

Bill and Rebecca made their way out of their cover, staying silent the whole time. They used their dark clothing to their advantage, allowing themselves to blend in with the darkness. They could hear crickets chirping in the night, Bill nudged Rebecca softly with his elbow and pointed at a hat of a guard.

"Shoot him, I'll get him down." Bill whispered, Rebecca nodded and aimed up with her bow. She pulled back and got ready to fire, Bill made his way directly under the guard from above from the outside.

The guard was looking out into the night, until he heard what sounded like a snap. Then all went black as an arrow went into his head, the guard slumped forward, and a lasso went around his body. The guard fell out of the fort and crashed down right beside of Bill, the prize fighter looked to where Rebecca was and nodded his head.

The two put their ears to the fort's wooden walls, they could hear somebody talking from within. It was the voice of the lieutenant, he was about to leave the fort. The lieutenant sounded like Bill, Rebecca gave him a look of surprise.

"I have an idea." Rebecca said with a wink, a few more minutes passed by before the massive wooden gate slowly opened up. The lieutenant began to leave away on his horse, Bill noticed a guard about to close the gate once again. Rebecca fired and the guard was killed instantly.

"While everyone is distracted with that man you shot just now. I'm going to go drag that body into our cover, defend me as I go." Bill commanded, Rebecca nodded her head and kept her aim at the fort. Bill slowly made his way out towards the body of the lieutenant, grabbing him by the arms and slowly dragging him towards cover again. Rebecca kept her aim steady, luckily no guard seen Bill.

"So Rebecca, what plan do you have?" Bill asked, feeling curious for her secret plan.

A few minutes went by and a man wearing the same clothing as the lieutenant, approached the gate. With a voice sounding familiar to the man in whom was shot down by Rebecca, the man turned out to be Bill with the clothing of the lieutenant.

"Open this gate up, I am back. I have got an irish damsel here, she has information about the native American uprising in uncharted territory close to Annesburg. There is a possible chance that she knows FireMaker." Bill announced, disguised as the lieutenant. Rebecca decided to play the part of an irish damsel who possibly knew FireMaker. It was all part of her plan, the wooden gate slowly opened, and the two walked in.

The guards all looked at Bill along with Rebecca, the two tried to not make their approach awkward, it would throw away their cover and possibly get them killed.

"I would have words with FireMaker, me and Rebecca would have a talk with him. We're gonna get some answers tonight!" Bill shouted, raising his fist into the air. Two guards escorted him and Rebecca towards the chamber where FireMaker was being held.

The two guards left the prized fighters once they were within the chamber, they seen FireMaker in the corner of the dark room, he was shivering and had been stripped down to just a loincloth.

"Get the hell away from here, this is torture!" The young native american screamed in slight terror, but mostly anger.

"We aren't them, we tricked them." Bill answered, seeing the shape that FireMaker was in. The adolescent indian boy looked pretty roughed up, alone in a cold room with only a brown cloth strapped to his waist for clothing.

"Damn, they stripped you down pretty good, didn't they?" Rebecca teased, FireMaker rolled his eyes and looked around through a small peephole he had jabbed in the wooden wall with a knife he snuck in.

"They took all of my clothing and stashed it somewhere, I'm not going out there practically naked." FireMaker groaned in an annoyed voice, he then turned his head to Bill and Rebecca.

"How are we going to get out of here?" he asked.

"Well, we do need some information. Tell us anything you know about something close to Annesburg." Bill explained, about to reveal part of his plan.

Bill's idea was to strip the lieutenant of all of his clothing since his voice sounded like his, he and Rebecca would free FireMaker after they went to Sisika Penitentiary with the soldiers at Fort Wallace. They would raid the prison island by any means necessary.

"Annesburg.." FireMaker thought, he hadn't heard of any news surrounding Annesburg. Though there was something interesting in particular by the area in which Annesburg was in.

"Native Americans, from an unknown tribe. Over in the Annesburg area, they are being hunted down by law enforcement. The soldiers take their wrath out on my tribe because they cannot find them, Sisika Penitentiary is not too far away. It is gonna be a huge event though, you're gonna see some bloodshed." FireMaker answered, Bill and Rebecca looked at each other with slightly concerned looks.

"How many of these indians are there?" Bill asked, FireMaker shrugged his shoulders.

"From what I've heard, there is only three. We can make up some story on how this is a much larger tribe in order to get the attention of the soldiers."

"That is good enough, we need to make the move sometime soon. I don't think a friend of ours is gonna last any longer." Bill suggested, helping FireMaker up. The three then made their way out of the chamber.

"Gentlemen, I've received word from this irish damsel and FireMaker himself, that there is a large portion of the indian tribe planning to set free prisoners over at Sisika Penitentiary. We must move tomorrow morning and prepare for a full scale battle. I'm pretty sure that there will be some other beings involved with it too." Bill announced, tricking the soldiers as he roughly held FireMaker to make the others believe that he was the lieutenant.

"Very well. We advance to Sisika Penitentiary tomorrow morning at the time of nine thirty." A soldier suggested as he cleaned his rifle with some gun oil.

"Fine with me, as long as it is before noon. We don't want to arrive too late." Bill responded.

The three would stay at the fort for the night, planning and anticipating the morning of the next day. They knew that getting Jack back wouldn't be so easy, Bill had never heard of a tribe of 3 indians. FireMaker wondered if the 3 indians were actually going to try and get into Sisika Penitentiary.

These three indians were really in a tribe of 3, however, they were always involved with chaos. Everywhere these native americans went, bloodshed would follow. Somehow, they would be on the scene of the battle at Sisika Penitentiary the next morning…


	9. Obedience through pain

(Chapter 9: Obedience through pain)

It was across the bridge over in Annesburg, three indians had been hiding out in the uncharted wilderness across the Lannahechee River. These three native americans had been on the run from the law, for countless many years as of now. They didn't stick in one spot to settle, they frequently moved around the land to live. They began their journey of vengeance against the law enforcement and the expanding civilization by breaking free of their prisons and going on a ruthless killing spree to rescue the inmates, as it turned out however. These indians had no care of these inmates, they all just wanted to be free.

The native americans went across the land, murdering the sheep and goats of every ranch they happened to come across. They donned a goat skull hat and wore wool clothing, they were essentially wolves in sheeps clothing in the case if that old phrase was to come to life. This would get the three into trouble, bounties were on the heads of all three of them. They fought against the law when they had to, the good thing for them was that they were well hidden.

They killed because of their hatred for a civilized land, they hated large cities, they hated towns of even the smallest size. These three would rather live like hunter gatherers and they shown their savage behavior towards it. They knew that the rapid expanding civilization was inevitable, they would not stop until every settlement was destroyed.

They lived in lands West of the Grizzlies Mountains, living in the central United States when many towns pushed them towards the East. The indians would face against a BlackJack camp in a large snowy area, they continued to go against the BlackJacks as they headed up in the mountains. The high altitude proved it hard to fight in yet the three native americans prevailed. They weren't a tribe, they were a resistance group, or that is what they seen themselves as.

"If these pigs don't leave this heavily guarded area, we'll never be able to make a move." One of them growled, the leader of this three man tribe would respond.

"Calm yourself War Eagle, don't stray from our mission. I've got an idea in mind, we head for Sisika Penitentiary."

War Eagle and the other native american gave their leader a surprised look, they weren't expecting such an answer. Going to Sisika Penitentiary was suicide for just three people.

"Are you sure about this, RainWater?" The other indian questioned, the leader nodded as he sharpened his spear.

"We strike, and then we vanish into the day amidst the chaos."

The three native americans began to make their way towards the prison island on horseback, riding through the hills of Annesburg to go undetected by the law or from any passerby, at the same time. Bill, Rebecca, along with FireMaker and the soldiers from Fort Wallace, they all was making their way towards the prison island.

(Location: Sisika Penitentiary)

"Get up, get up you sons of bitches!" William shouted through the window of a prison block, shooting his revolver into the air to wake the inmates up.

"I hate this racist motherfucker.." Dred, an african american inmate growled. Dred was viewed as the lead inmate among all of the african american prisoners.

Dred sworn vengeance and violence upon William Barlow, he hated the fact, that a confederate flag had been raised in the air as well as an American one. It told Dred that Barlow was playing both sides, and that the racist bastard was doing well with it.

A heavy set guard approached the prison block, and opened the doors for them to make their leave for more intense work labor.

"Get up all you coons and pieces of white scum!" the obese guard shouted, looking at all the inmates.

"We are trash, you're just a fat sack of shit." Jack Marston growled as he sat up from his cold bunk bed in which he shared with Dred Johnson , he was forced to bunk with him. Dred, and Jack seen themselves as partners, leaders in their own right.

The inmates made their way out of the prison block to go eat breakfast, the food served at the prison was horrid. The guards gave no shit about it either, they made the meals horrible on purpose.

"I wish we can all be free from this hellhole!" Jeremiah shouted with a hint of weakness in his voice, he had been starved from the day before and was showing signs of slowing down..

Jack was behind Jeremiah in the single file chain gain line, as they walked, Jack got an idea.

"I've got a gang I have formed in recent weeks, we will get out of here. I promise." Jack said quietly, not wanting the guards to hear him.

"How are we getting out of here?" Jeremiah groaned, his stomach at this point, begging for food, and his ankles feeling the pressure of the heavy chains locked tightly around his feet.

"I don't know, but we will. God isn't going to let this torment slide." Jack would respond.

A few grueling minutes of walking went by, the slow ones to be whipped on the bare back. Jack could not handle it, he hated hearing the inmates moaning their lives away, he hated hearing them beg for mercy, he hated hearing their screams of agony as welts would burst from too much pressure from the sting of the whip. He only wished them to be free, hopefully soon.

Jack wasn't in the prison for long either, for the couple of weeks he had been there, it was absolute hell for him, worse for the african american prisoners. White prisoners were spared, but very slightly. Almost everyone got the same amount of punishment and pain from the guards.

The hot sun beat down upon them all, making them sweat and thirsty for water. The guards didn't listen to their desperate cries, some would collapse. Those that collapsed would either be forced to get up, if they refused, death was given. The conditions were similar to those of concentration camps, which would make their dreadful appearance several years later.

Jack's chain gang would be the lucky ones to make it to the food court, they all sat down at the same table. The guards did not unchain them all, they didn't trust the inmates, and rightfully so. All of the inmates wanted to kill the guards and the owner of the prison, the guards and William Barlow knew it all too well.

Jeremiah would be given a small bowl of porridge as well as some dirty looking water. Dred would be given raw meat, one he didn't dare eat because it looked so nasty. The rebellious african american prisoner slowly raised his head at the guard that gave him the tiny plate of dead meat.

"Raw meat? What do you think I am? A fucking dog?" Dred growled, only to have the butt of a rifle smashed into his skull.

"All of you darkies are nothing but dogs, besides had this been before the times of the civil war. You all would be kissing the ground near our feet, the pathetic slaves." The guard said with a devious, smart ass grin on his face.

"You sick bastards!" Jack growled, springing up only to be jerked down on his ass due to the heavy ball and chain holding him down.

It was all coming to a boiling point, the constant trash talk from the guards, the horrible food and hospitality, the working conditions, the overall time at the penitentiary, lines would soon be crossed..

"Dred, I've got some porridge. Would you like to have it, I'd rather be with my brother in Heaven than in prison." Jeremiah asked, showing the leader of the african americans his bowl of porridge.

"No, I'm fine. You need your strength Jeremiah, you are too good of a man to die." Dred said in response, waving his hand at the bowl to sign that he didn't want it.

"Fine then, I'm not wanting to be here anymore. I don't have the strength to live, I don't find any reason to draw breath." Jeremiah groaned as he weakly took a spoonful of porridge from the bowl, his hand shaking from being tired out and weak. He put the provision into his watering mouth, something seemed off at first. It tasted salty..

Jeremiah quickly downed the supply of water to drown out the taste, or what he thought was water in a tiny wooden mug. The taste of the liquid had an even stronger taste of sodium, something wasn't right. Jeremiah knocked the tiny mug over, to see what he was drinking.. Was urine…

Jeremiah then dumped the bowl over, to get a better look at the porridge. To make matters worse, there was little maggots in the porridge…

"I fucking hate you all!" Jeremiah cried, his voice breaking and shaking, sounding like he was going insane.

A guard jumped up from a nearby table, enjoying a rather healthy food in comparison to what all the prisoners ate.

"Drink my piss you fucking darkie!" The same heavy set guard from earlier shouted, unzipping his pants to show off his cock still dripping of urine.

"Where is it, I don't see anything down there fatass!" Dred shouted, patting Jeremiah on the back softly as he took up for him. Jack decided to chime in and give Jeremiah some aid.

"Childish, all of you damn prison guards are!"

The guards simply laughed at the inmates, knowing that they couldn't do anything. They knew that the prisoners were helpless and hopeless.

Jack dug his spoon through his porridge and at the bottom of the bowl was a steaming pile of canine droppings, a dog had defecated in the bowl prior of it getting topped with porridge.

"Who shit themselves recently?" Jack asked, trying to make a joke out of the situation, no one laughed. Dred only gave the Marston boy a smirk.

A nearby caucasian prisoner spat out yellowish liquid, chunks of porridge came out too. Another guard laughed and flipped the prisoner off to taunt him.

"They pissed in my porridge, the sick fucks." The prisoner growled as he threw the bowl across the room, piss and disgusting porridge getting all over the face of the guard.

The prisoner as silenced as his head was leaking blood moments after a shotgun shell went through his skull, spilling his brains out of the back of his head. If any prisoner dared defy the authority of the guards, or attempted to harm the guards, they would be shot instantly and without mercy.

William Barlow stormed into the food court to investigate the loud bang of the shotgun fire, once he seen what happened, he instantly made the prisoners suffer.

"One man ruined it for all, get your asses outside, you will be feeling pain. All of you shall be put through hell, I will not give a damn how many anguished cries I hear, you all will either be shaking from your conditions, or you all will be dead!"

The prisoners were forced up by the guards, the weak ones being whipped and some of them even being shot by the ruthless prison guards. All of this was under the rule of William Barlow, some of the prison guards hated Barlow for what he did, the only good guards there were, was fired if they disagreed.

(Not too long later..)

Jeremiah weakly brought the hammer over his head, then slamming it down with a loud scream to draw of any bits of strength he had left. Every day was the same, the same suffering. Now imagine the conditions for years on end, it would be impossible to go through for all of them. The prisoners with the strongest of will power, they would crack. Some would lose faith, some would kill themselves from being hopeless.

The rock was given a new crack as the hammer slammed down upon it, Jeremiah started feeling dizzy as the sun continued to viciously shine down upon them all. It seemed like mother nature preferred the hateful guards other than the innocents who were suffering in the prison.

"I wish we had a place in this world." Jeremiah moaned, his arms shaking as they threatened to let go of the hammer, Jeremiah wouldn't let the hammer go or else he would be bashed by the guard nearby.

"The world doesn't favor the good hearted anymore, Jeremiah. It only favors the ones with greed, the ones with too much money, it only favors the ones who wrongfully judge others, it favors these monsters." Dred growled as he slammed the hammer into the rocks. Jeremiah would speak again a few seconds later.

"I only wish for this to be over, I've been here for only a couple of years. My body is giving away day by day, my soul is clawing at my heart, my soul wants to leave. I think these cruel guards will capture our souls and put them into tiny jars, to let us watch others suffer the same fate."

"Just keep pushing, we will be free. God help us all.." Jack groaned, now starting to feel tired and weak.

"I want night to come soon, for me to finally close my eyes, and for me to sleep.. Sleep forever." Jeremiah moaned as he struggled to raise the hammer up, showing the same signs of doom that his brother had before he was shot.

"To sleep is to give up, don't quit. Die a warrior, die fighting." Dred said as he lifted up the hammer again, the guard noticed Jeremiah struggling. The same guard that killed Joe not too long ago.

"I-I can't do t-this.." Jeremiah whispered in weak soft voice, tears starting to well up in his eyes as his arms finally gave way, dropping the hammer. The poor inmate knew what was coming as he heard the crack of a whip upon his back, the all too familiar sting, and the dreadful feeling of his large welts bursting. He felt the blood run down his back, the scarlet liquid dripping on the ground beneath his feet and slowly forming a small pool of blood.

Jeremiah collapsed as soon as he felt the cool blood run down his back at a quick pace, he wasn't dead, but begging for death to just take him as he screamed in agony, clawing at the ground. It was a domino effect, when Jeremiah fell, the other members in his chain gang fell with him.

Dred's head smashed against the rock, causing him to clench his teeth in a sudden throbbing pain. Jack yelped out loudly as he felt an intense pressure on his ankles from the heavy chains, everyone was on the ground, everyone was suffering.

The guard began to load his rifle up, to prepare to shoot Jeremiah. The black inmate could hear the gun slowly being loaded up, he knew he wouldn't last any longer.

"Do it, I don't wanna live! I wanna be with ma! I wanna be with pa, I want to be with Joe in the golden city of Heaven!" Jeremiah cried loudly, tears flowing down his face as he felt himself about to pass out.

"Have faith! God will send somebody to help us soon!" Jack pleaded, not wanting Jeremiah to give up, the african american prisoner had given up a long time ago..

"What kind of good is God, if he allows this to happen!" Jeremiah responded, seeing the guard aim down at him now.

"Jeremiah, look at me in the eyes. Don't you surrender to these monsters, this is your life. They cannot control us!" Dred shouted, trying to uplift the suffering Jeremiah, his efforts were futile as well.

"I cannot look at you, I cannot see you with these tears fogging my vision. I cannot see you through the tears in my eyes." Jeremiah groaned in agony, as the salty tears flowed from his eyes at an uncontrollable rate.

Jeremiah's vision began to get blurry, not from the tears though. His body was giving up on him, just like he had given up on life. His bravery drained, his will turned to dust, his hope all but tiny particles..

He began to see his brother, Joe, in front of him. Everything around him was beautiful, an amazing field. As well as many people, some faces he knew and some faces he didn't know. The faces among all these people was his friends and his mother and father, and his brother. Everyone was chatting, everyone had smiles on their faces, some were laughing. This place had to be a pure joy and it all seemed like a paradise, he wasn't in the prison grounds anymore. This was to be a life beyond the stars, beyond the depths of this universe.

Then Jeremiah began to see the precious memories of his life with his brother, he seen them two playing and laughing. He seen the mother holding them both when they were infants, with tears of joy in her eyes and the prideful father smiling down upon them. Jeremiah then had a memory, a memory he tried to remove so many times. His parents hugging him and his brother before they left the house, their parents would never return.

"Come home brother, everyone is waiting for you." Joe said down upon Jeremiah, Jeremiah looked up to see his brother crouching before him and smiling happily. Everything around him was hell, the prison was Hell to him.

"How is home like?" Jeremiah asked, Joe smiled and placed his hand on his brother's head.

"Mother is expecting you, your father is waiting too. I want to welcome you with open arms, just close your eyes. All of your pain will go away, no more misery."

"I am coming Joe, I'm coming home. I've missed mother and father too much.." He said as his eyes began to flutter shut ever so slowly.

"Jeremiah? Jeremiah!" Dred shouted as Jeremiah passed away beside him, his brother had welcomed him into Heaven where he would life a much better life.

A loud ear piercing bang was heard, the skull of Jeremiah burst. His head completely blown apart by a shotgun shell at point blank from William Barlow.

"Save me the sob story." The cruel bastard of an owner spoke, Jack slowly looked up at William with hate in his eyes. Jack couldn't believe what had just happened, he had gotten to know Jeremiah so well and then he fell from the world before his very eyes.

"If I was to be freed from these damn chains, I would have your head." Jack growled, feeling incredibly sorry for Jeremiah.

"And for you even thinking of that, you will hang in the wind. Guards! Set up the gallows, we have another inmate who wants to die!" William announced, showing no mercy and planning to hang Jack Marston…

Several minutes would pass by, eventually an hour would come to pass. The gallows had been set up, William eyed down his targets to sway in the wind.

The cruel owner of the penitentiary looked at Jack, then Dred, then the girl who was in love with Jeremiah at the time, her name was Tonya. Jack started to become hopeless as he edged closer towards the gallows, he seen the dreadful loop of the noose in which would go around his neck soon enough. Tonya was crying hysterically, she feared death, she wanted to have a good ending. Dred clenched his teeth in anger as he was forced closer and closer to the rope of doom.

The three were forced to make their way to where the ropes awaited them, guards stood behind the three inmates, rifles at their heads. There was no way to escape this time, if the inmates chose to escape, they would be shot at point blank, and if they didn't, they would hang.

Jack looked down at William Barlow with hatred, he knew that his quest to conquer civilization had came to a screeching halt. Tonya continued to sob uncontrollably as she fastened the noose around her neck, Dred shown no emotion as he tied the noose into a slipknot around his neck.

Jack seethed in anger, trying to look brave as he looked at the executioner wanting to drop the boards and hear the snaps of their necks.

"I hate you, I fucking hate you." Jack growled towards William, the owner of the prison island only laughed and rolled his eyes.

Although Jack looked brave, and acted brave, deep within him, his heart was pounding a mile a minute. Deep down he was scared to death, he never wanted to choke his life away, to feel the air being forcefully stopped from entering his body. The executioner went to grab the lever, something prevented him from doing so once he seen a prison guard on a watchtower, fall from the top and crash into the dirt. Then came the sound of many voices, each screaming with anger and rage in them. Then came the sound of an indian war cry, Jack's rescue party had finally arrived…


	10. Slaughterhouse

(Chapter 10: Slaughterhouse)

William Barlow seethed in rage once he heard the rescue party arrive with authority, several watchtower guards fell from their position and crashed to the dirt, all dead. Bill Pierce was handed a sniper rifle a soldier, the prize fighter aimed through the steel gates at the front of the penitentiary. Bill was shocked when he seen Jack at the gallows, the rescue party had arrived right on time. Bill shot at the rope, thus setting Jack free.

William turned around, and looked up to see that the Marston boy was free from the rope in which was to silence him for good. Jack leaped from the gallows and tackled the owner of the penitentiary to the ground with a thud, both grunting once they crashed.

Jack rolled away from William, he had to weapons, thus he had to fight with his fists for now. Jack was at a great disadvantage, William had a golden cutlass and a sawed off shotgun in his holster. Chaos was unfolding, people were screaming and the prisoners were cheering. The young gunslinger looked around to see guards scrambling to try and figure out the situation.

Jack wouldn't be the person to run from a fight, but it was the smart idea to run away from a man whom had two weapons with him, Jack didn't even have a knife to defend himself with. Dred, and Tonya was still on the verge of being hanged.

"I've got to set them free." Jack said to himself as he ran towards a door at a large facility on the island. This was solely for the guards and William only, but Jack knew that his weapons had been stored there.

William chased Jack with his golden cutlass in the air, he wanted Jack's head now. The young gunslinger looked over his shoulder to see the ruthless owner rush after him, he then faced forwards as he edged closer towards the massive facility.

A guard happened to be in the way, which provided Jack with some cover. The guard took aim at the gunslinger, Jack was quick to react as he jumped to the left a few seconds before the guard fired at him. The rifle shell went right into William, causing the owner to collapse. The guard was shocked, his eyes widened right when Jack's arm hooked around his throat. The officer gagged as Jack started to choke him, this was to serve as a distraction, he was lifted slightly off the ground, and was thrown on top of his own boss.

"Get off me." William growled in pain as he tried to shove the guard off of him, the one that accidentally shot him.

William looked at Jack, the gunslinger was already within range of the doors. He then noticed the several people, who sided with Jack, at the gates. These people were wanting in, they wanted blood. Once the boss had shoved the guard off of him, he sliced his head off with the golden cutlass. William had killed his own guard, only for an accident.

"You sons of bitches want in!" William cried out, looking at Jack's rescuers, he eyed down a cannon not too far from where he stood.

"Then you'll get in!" William marched towards the cannon, he knew that opening the gates was a bad idea, however he knew that if he used the cannon to forcefully blast open the gates, the people in which had came to save Jack, would all be blasted away.

"I need some help with this cannon, somebody fucking man it!" William shouted, a few guards came to aid their boss. The four guards heaved a heavy cannon ball inside of the large device of war, William then turned it towards the gate.

"Inmates, and you sons of bitches outside of the gates. If peace is what you want, then you'll die for it. If you want peace, prepare for war!"

An explosive thunderous noise boomed out as the cannon fired, the heavy dark ball slammed through the gates and cleared out a good chunk of the rescue party. The war cries only got louder as the allies for Jack Marston charged in, the indians charged in with them. The guns started to fire every second, guards were downed and some soldiers from Fort Wallace were downed.

"What the hell? Why the fuck are soldiers of the American Army, are here!" William roared in confusion, he didn't get no answer, he only seen Bill Pierce charging at him.

William ducked behind the cannon once he seen Bill aim at him, he could hear the prize fighter's repeater fire a couple of times. Chief RainWater rushed in with a spear, running to the nearest guard, and then ramming his spear right into the mouth.

The tip of the spear burst through the back of the guard's head, penetrating his skull and killing him instantly. War Eagle, his partner, stood beside of him with a massive wooden shield of many layers. A guard rushed towards the three native americans, War Eagle still defending RainWater with his shield. The other indian did the same as he covered RainWater's back from being shot at, War Eagle smashed a wooden club right into the guard's skull that was attempting to shoot through the shield. The sound was nasty, a loud pop and then the scream of the guard. Blood was gushing from the temple of the head, making a nasty gushing noise. Blood was quick to pool around the body, completely draining the guard's face of color.

"Where is Jack!" Rebecca McIntyre called out, a soldier collapsed next to her as blood shot out from his head. Some guards had climbed to the top of the facility and was now sniping anyone they seen.

Bill made his way around the back of the cannon to see a golden blade being hacked at his skull, he leapt back to avoid from being killed by William. The boss of the hellish penitentiary wasn't done yet, he attempted a slash at Bill's chest, he missed again since Bill would dodge once more.

Some guards would burst out of the facility to head towards three turret guns, these turret guns would turn this large battle into a slaughterhouse and utter kill show.

Some soldiers tried to shoot the guards down, they were successful in downing a few, yet the numbers game was too much for the four soldiers to take. Rebecca seen the gallows, acknowledging Dred, and Tonya.

The irishman made her way towards the gallows to free the two african american inmates, Dred smiled as he finally had the feeling to fight and get vengeance. Tonya was screaming in terror as she seen bodies collapse, she could hear people scream in terror and some in rage. The amount of bullets flying seemed that escape was impossible, it was insane.

Tonya seen a guard's head explode when shot at point blank by a soldier's double barrel shotgun, she seen the chest of a guard seemingly burst when a large bullet from a sniper rifle went into his chest. The sound of shattering glass could be heard, a guard fell from the 2nd floor of a nearby facility.

Sirens began to go off in the penitentiary now, this would alert nearby law enforcement to try and aid the guards at Sisika Penitentiary. The police could hardly do nothing though, it would take them a while for them to get across the river, and to the prison island.

"Somebody get to that alarm, break the damn thing!" Bill called out as he tried to fend off the attacking William. The boss of the prison island found that trying to fight with the cutlass was useless against Bill.

A loud sound of bullets flying at a rapid fire pace began to ring out, the turrets were firing now. Anyone within the bullets path of destruction, would be dead. Rebecca was quick to react before the turrets could open fire, she grabbed a nearby guard, and used him as a meat shield.

"Dammit, no!" Dred shouted as he heard the turrets firing, he didn't know how much longer he would last, he could still be killed by turret fire. Tonya screamed in fear, she couldn't do anything since her hands were tied.

"I'm coming, I'm here!" Rebecca called out as she crawled underneath the rotting corpses of fallen guards and Fort Wallace soldiers, blood soaking her as she crawled under them. She slowly got closer to the gallows.

William went for his sawed off shotgun, only for it to get shot out of his arms by Bill. The guards wouldn't let William die easy, they came to his aid, and managed to get a good few shots in on Bill. The prize fighter staggered back as blood shot out of his body when the bullets dug into his body, he would then collapse…

The damage was being done, blood was soaking the massive field of work at Sisika in large puddles of blood from several guards in which lay near each other as they bled out slowly. One soldier from Fort Wallace laid on the ground with his entrails sprawled out of his gut, his hands covering the open gash on his exposed gut, blood leaked out from his mouth as he moaned loudly, he wouldn't last long with his intestines sprawled everywhere outside of his body. That soldier was a victim of the turret guns going off, Rebecca looked over the rotting corpse to see a soldier charge the turrets. That soldier was shredded to pieces by the turrets, his arm getting severed from his torso and his legs being shredded apart.

The snipers on the rooftops of the facility seemed unstoppable as they downed any soldier they seen or any inmate, there had never been any uprising in Sisika Penitentiary. This would be the first revolt of the inmates and outside forces, this would end up being the last for a very long time.

Meanwhile, inside of the closest facility, it was on the 3rd floor. William's pregnant wife was in fear for her life, she could see the absolute carnage that was going on the outside. The marshy areas of the ground had turned into a dark color from the blood, she dug into a chest at the foot of the bed to find a carcano rifle.

She smiled and approached the window, aiming out of it to see Rebecca rushing for the gallows to free the two inmates. The wife's fearful expression turned into that of a sadistic grin, a wicked smile from ear to ear.

"I dare you to free those moon crickets, you whore!"

The wife fired the carcano rifle, only missing Rebecca by a slight bit. The missed shot was enough to get the irishman's attention, she stood confused for a moment right by the gallows like a deer stuck in headlights. The wife had Rebecca where she wanted her.

Suddenly, a large shell went right into the knee of Rebecca. She screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground while trying to hold back tears. A few soldiers of Fort Wallace came to the irishman's aid, quickly freeing the two inmates. One of the soldiers was shot in the back by the carcano, Dred instantly seen where it was coming from. He stared down the wife from afar, slowly balling up his fists. He thought of the suffering that Joe went through, he thought of the poor Jeremiah passing away right next to him. Dred thought that Jeremiah's death was depressing, and it made him feel hopeless. Dred remembered how hopeless Jeremiah sounded in his last moments, now he aimed to get revenge by killing William's wife.

The look on the face of Dred said it all, as he approached the facility with a face of silent fury. His teeth showing in a vicious snarl, the wife's heart jumped into her throat once she seen Dred making his way towards the facility backed by a few soldiers. She could hear some commotion from downstairs, Jack was in the facility. It was then that she knew, there would be no escape for her.

"No!" The wife screamed in terror as she heard the battle for the penitentiary raging on outside, she could hear Jack tearing through guards easily one floor below her.

The wife of William tried to run down the hall, the snipers from the rooftops came down into the hall to quickly get more ammo. They happened to see the distressed wife.

"What is going on, Beth?" A sniper asked, the wife gulped and began to speak.

"I'm afraid, I'm in fear for my life." Beth cried, her voice breaking apart as if she was about to cry.

"And you rightfully should be afraid." A voice all too familiar said, she looked towards the staircase. The sun broke in through the open windows to reveal the shadow of the person marching up the stairs, there was long hair and a cowboy hat. It was the shadow of John Marston? No it was Jack's shadow!

In a matter of seconds, the snipers around Beth all collapsed at her feet, all dead. Jack had used his dead eye ability to gun down the snipers, Beth fell on her ass and slowly backed up into the bedroom again.

"Tell me, bitch. Tell me how much you enjoyed seeing these innocent souls suffer, for your fucking, sick pleasure." Jack demanded as he looked down at Beth with hate and disgust, Beth's eyes widened in fear for her life.

"I, I-I. I don't enjoy it, all of this is some big joke!" Beth cried, Jack shook his head in an angry manner.

"You're damn right all of this is a joke, I find it heinous that you let these innocent men suffer and die. I seen you giving your husband a toast, over killing Joe the other day. You shared a wine glass because you killed someone.." Jack growled, he then heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

"If anyone has earned to see your demise, it is this man."

Dred made his appearance at last, staring down Beth from in the doorway with the two black soldiers at his sides. Jack made his way down the stairs to go back outside into the fight.

"You sick whore.." Dred growled, balling up his fists. Beth slowly got to her feet, reaching for the carcano rifle only to get shot in the arm by one of the african american soldiers.

"You shared a glass of wine over the death of a dear friend of mine, Joe."

The next soldier fired a round into the knee of Beth, causing her to scream in agony. She could feel her unborn baby kicking inside of the womb, she rubbed her baby bump and her lips quivered as a sign of submission.

"Then you relished in the death of one who suffered far too long, good Jeremiah. Such a charming man, a sweet man. One with class, a beautiful soul. Your husband watched him die with no sign of mercy, I loved him like a brother."

Beth waved her arms out in front of her in submission and fear, she didn't want to know what came next.

"Such an innocent good young man, robbed from life.."

Beth got on her knees and bowed her head down at the feet of Dred, she feared every sentence he spoke.

"You have an innocent life within you, an infant. I don't condone such cruelty, but it is deserved. For all the innocent lives you've enjoyed to see taking, for all the ones you smiled at as they suffered, for the ones that have taken their life due to your husband's bullshit." Dred growled as he approached Beth, kicking her at full force on the skull.

Beth yelped out in pain, falling to her back and groaning pain. Feeling her head.

"I remember reading something in the bible, do unto others as they've done to you. Since you harmed innocent lives, we shall harm yours. We will not see another cruel bastard remain in your family." Dred growled as he took a golden cutlass from a soldier's arms, pointing the blade down at the baby bump.

"Wait please, don.." Beth couldn't finish her sentence as she felt, and seen the golden blade drive right into her gut. She didn't feel any pain within her, that told her one thing. The blade had stabbed into her baby from the outside in.

She felt the infant's kicks stop abruptly, she suddenly felt a cold sensation within her. The baby was bleeding inside her womb, she broke out into a fit of sobs and screams. Dred then left the facility with his newfound african american soldier friends, Beth's torment was not over yet. The three native americans entered the doorway a few moments later.

One by one the unknown tribe of three entered the room, War Eagle holding some sort of tiny stick with a rounded tip. Chief RainWater marched down the stairs with the other indian, leaving War Eagle to do his work.

"What more do you niggers fucking want!" Beth screamed, this caused War Eagle to smirk.

"My oh my white woman, what language. How about I shut you up?"

War Eagle would proceed to rape Beth and then murder her moments later, his final words to her were "Death to society, death to you."

The death of Beth Barlow would be the turning point in the large battle for Sisika Penitentiary, William would retreat on horseback, and all of the guards were slowly killed off. Many inmates were set free and many of them died while seeking vengeance against the guards for their brutal treatment. Jack Marston and the small army of men killed off every single guard remaining, during the battle, the siren was silenced. Two hundred guards were all killed, fifty prisoners were killed. Forty Fort Wallace soldiers were killed. That would leave Jack with fifteen prisoners, all wanting to join his gang in their vengeance against society. The Fort Wallace soldiers abandoned their job and decided to offer the gang their fort, Bill was critically injured and so was Rebecca. Jack would receive a good few bullets but nothing too serious.

At this point, the leaders of the gang was quite obvious. They were: Jack Marston, Rebecca McIntyre, Bill Pierce, and Dred Jackson. The gang of Jack Marston had finally gained some numbers, they would need to lay low for now. Jack knew that this battle at the prison island would not go unnoticed.

A few days later, Markus Van Der Linde would arrive on the island with Douglas Mulligan. The two had arrived by boat to see Jack swing on the noose. They seen several bodies littering the front of the gate, raising a red flag for them. The confederate flag and even the american flag, had both been ripped apart. Something major had happened here.

"It stinks." Markus growled, smelling the rotting flesh and the blood in the air. Douglas and the son of Dutch would enter the gates to see even more damage.

There was bodies everywhere, some in great heaps. The big pile of bodies was discovered near the turrets, bodies had been dismembered by the rapid fire of the turret guns. Markus couldn't believe his eyes.

"Oh my Lord, what happened here?" Markus asked himself, placing a hand on the back of his head in shock. Douglas noticed the gallows weren't empty, but they had the bodies of Beth Barlow, a heavy set guard, and the guard that had killed Jeremy and Jeremiah.

"It seems that Jack isn't here, Van Der Linde." Douglas said in awe, looking over at Markus with a concerned look on his face.

"I should have known Jack would be a fighter, we'll get him at some point." Markus responded, sounding serious with his words.

"This is Jack's work, Markus. Are you sure we can attack him, I am a bit shaken up by looking at all of these mutilated bodies." Douglas said in a truth. Markus sighed.

"Well, I stand unshaken.."


	11. Dishonor

(Chapter 11: Dishonor)

It has been a good few weeks since the bloody massacre at Sisika Penitentiary all just to rescue one person, the rescue mission turned into an all out battle with the prison guards. Many lives were lost, many prisoners would never be truly free since their poor souls were forced to wander the prison grounds aimlessly as spirits.

Now the Marston Gang has grown into a good size for a gang, it consisted mostly of freed prisoners from the penitentiary. Jack Marston was the leader, Dred Jackson was second in command, Rebecca McIntyre was third in command, Bill Pierce got last in command. Word had gotten out across the entire state, the news would eventually make its way West of the Grizzlies Mountains, Markus Van Der Linde knew of it. The BlackJacks knew of it.

A large meeting had been assembled by Markus, and Douglas. Both wanting to voice their opinions of the matter at hand. To Markus and the BlackJacks, the location of the gang was unknown.

"Folks, it seems that our mission to kill Jack, to watch him hang from the gallows, it seems that the mission is failed. There was a supposed large scale shootout, we couldn't find Jack's corpse among the wreckoning." Douglas announced, getting some upset groans from the members of the BlackJacks.

"Douglas shall report this incident to the FBI of Blackwater, he will report it to Archer Fordham. I can assume search parties and bounty hunters, shall find Jack and his mongrels at some point in time. We can all hope it is soon." Markus added on, shaking the hand of the leader of the BlackJacks.

Markus had sided with the BlackJack gang, yet he kept his attire on. He wanted to be a leader of his own right, he wanted to be the leader of himself. Now the search for Jack would begin, it would be a long stretch.

Meanwhile, in Fort Wallace, the rescued inmates were lounging around. Jack and Dred were speaking amongst themselves about the penitentiary, they spoke of the massacre. Dred wondered what the Marston Gang could do to move forward.

"Jack, these returning soldiers, the rescued inmates. We're all starving, I know you are too. Your other two buds are hurt, they require a meal just for them to heal up by a slight bit." Dred said with concern, looking at the groaning gang members in which were just released from the penitentiary. Some of the rescued inmates started throwing up from the migraines they were having, the fact that they all were weary, and weak made it worse for them.

"These people aren't gonna last long, they're all open for diseases when they are in this state. I'm surprised we all didn't catch anything while in that hellhole of a prison." The brave african american added on.

"I'll tell you what, I'll go head into town to get some provisions. You keep watch over my two buds, you're the second in command from here on." Jack announced to Dred, the black gang elite nodded his head in agreement.

As Jack was heading over to his horse to leave, he looked back at the fort, wondering if anyone else was willing to travel into town to get some supplies.

"Anybody wanting to come with me, I could possibly use some support."

A young black male approached Jack, he had to be in his late teen years or in his early twenties. He looked very fragile, his eyes had lost emotion from the suffering he went through at Sisika.

"I'll go." The black adolescent said in response, climbing on to Arthur and sitting behind of Jack.

The two made their way towards Annesburg to get some supplies from the store, any tonics or provisions would be necessary, extra items would suffice.

"So, my friend, what happens to be your name?" Jack asked, the dark skinned teen behind him remained awfully quiet.

"Ezekiel, my name is Ezekiel."

"Well Ezekiel, I am Jack Marston. Welcome to the gang, my old gang leader always had a motto."

"What was your motto?"

"We're gonna find out what you need. So, Ezekiel, what are you needing?"

There was a pause and then a sigh from Ezekiel, sounding like what he was wanting to say was hard for him.

"I need food, I need money. Matter of fact, money is what got me into the penitentiary. I was homeless prior to all of this, I tried to rob a bank all alone. I was desperate, I was sick. I knew that I wouldn't last long out on the streets of Strawberry, I was caught. Since my skin is dark of color, they sent me to the penitentiary."

Jack shook his head in disbelief, hearing on how society would instantly move this poor african american soul to the penitentiary instead of a prison. Other prisons were not as harsh as Sisika was, it all depended on who owned the prison.

"Damn those bastards for doing that to you, it seems like we all are after the same thing. I can promise you this, Ezekiel. Once we get everyone fed and back up on their feet, we will get money by any means necessary. This all comes at a cost though, we won't be so liked by society. The law is gonna be all over us, if we can get more numbers, maybe we will have a chance."

Ezekiel was concerned about this new gang life, there was so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Especially since town after town was being built, since the wilderness was coming to an end. The FBI was flexing their muscle over all remaining gangs in America, they proved to be the demise of the Van Der Linde gang. The American Army was a huge threat too.

Back at Fort Wallace, Dred was speaking to Bill about the massacre at Sisika. Rebecca was listening to their conversation.

"That massacre is only bad for us, all we did at that shithole was slaughter everyone we seen. As you can tell by my current situation, I have been shot a good few times. Rebecca can't even walk, she's been fucking shot in the knee." Bill groaned weakly, feeling the effects of his four wounds on his torso.

"I still feel unbearable pain in my knee, I think the bullet still remains in there." The irishman groaned, rubbing at her wounded knee.

"Well then, I think we should see all of you to the hospital." Dred announced, Bill nodded his head as he moaned loudly in pain. Dred decided to speak again.

"I think all of the bullets you took are still lodged in your bodies, it is best that they get removed."

Dred looked into a nearby chest and found some health tonics, this would suffice the two for now until Jack, and Ezekiel, returned.

The two suffering elites of the Marston gang were given a cup full of the health cure, their moans started to subside for now. Dred walked out of the tiny nursery facility within Fort Wallace, Tonya would be waiting for him.

"Hey, Dred. I'm not feeling to sure about this gang life. All it's gonna do is land us into more trouble, all of us will go back to some sort of prison island."

"Don't worry, Jack has us a promised land awaiting for us once we get enough money in our bags. He spoke of a tropical island in the South Pacific, Tahiti."

Tonya looked to the ground and sighed, her eyes had a thousand yard stare in them. She was going through traumatic episodes of the hell she went through at Sisika, she received the worst treatment out of all the females. She was raped over and over, she gave birth to many babies she never wanted. She remembered seeing the hanging bodies of the innocent, she remember people vomiting after being provided horrible food rations. She wondered if Sisika would be different if William Barlow wasn't in charge.

She couldn't get rid of the thoughts of William out of her mind, that ruthless and racist bastard did ungodly things to the people at the penitentiary. He didn't kill them, he would let them suffer and did nothing to help the dying. She then remembered herself at the gallows, seconds away from being hanged. A hand patted her on the shoulder, snapping her out of her flashbacks.

"What's wrong, Tonya?" Dred asked, seeming concerned for his friend before him. She looked into Dred's eyes with eyes of fear and worry.

"Tonya, don't be afraid. Nothing has happened to us yet, I'll let you know when we should be worried. Put troubled mind to rest and look towards the future, us sitting on the beaches of Tahiti. Living the best lives we all can."

(Blackwater)

"You mean to tell me that Jack killed all of those people?" Archer Fordham asked, sounding quite shocked in his tone of voice.

"Yes, hundreds of bodies. Even the owner's wife was dead, her corpse was fucked up." Douglas responded, Markus nodded.

"Hundreds of bodies, damn.." Archer Fordham said as he placed his face into the palm of his hand.

"Jack probably has all of the prisoners from that island in his gang. The prisoners that were alive after the massacre, we haven't seen the owner of the prison island either. There was arrows at the location too, these arrow tips have a rough black tip. Must have been fire arrows." Markus announced as he placed a bundle of burnt arrows onto the desk.

"If Jack destroyed Sisika Penitentiary, and killed all of those guards, and set free some prisoners. I'm gonna put a five hundred dollar bounty on that son of a bitch. Alive or dead." Archer said as he gave the two men the papers with Jack's face on it.

"Five hundred dollars.." Douglas said with a grin growing on his face, turning his head towards Markus. Markus had the same look on his face as Douglas did, the BlackJacks would have a huge amount of money for themselves if they was to capture Jack.

(AnnesBurg)

Jack, and Ezekiel hitched Arthur at the post out in front of the store. The gunsmith was right across the street from them, the two marched on into the store.

"Remember, Ezekiel, only get the items that we all need. We'll get some ammo after we get what we want from here." Jack explained, the store owner watched the two enter his store.

Ezekiel decided to grab some health cures, and some miracle tonics. Jack would get some food and drink provisions for the starving and tired gang members, specifically the rescued inmates of Sisika. The store owner continued to watch the two, slowly pulling a cattleman revolver from the desk drawer.

The store owner kept it hidden behind the desk, continuing to give Jack, and Ezekiel a hateful glare. Once Jack, and Ezekiel had grabbed what they wanted, they approached the counter to see the owner with an angry expression.

"Why the long face, partner?" Jack asked, the store owner remained silent for five seconds before answering.

"What's your name, bud?" The owner asked, he knew exactly who the white man was but not the young black man.

"Elliott, Elliott Morgan." Jack lied, keeping his real name a secret. The owner quickly aimed the revolver at Jack's head.

"Cut your bullshit, Marston. I've read in the papers that you killed several men, and rescued some prisoners from Sisika Penitentiary."

Jack raised his arms up in surrender, no citizens were approaching the store as of yet. Ezekiel wanted to shoot the owner of the store.

"Congratulations smartass, you've found me. Now explain to me, how the hell you know me?" Jack growled, giving the owner a hateful glare right back towards him.

"Annesburg bar a few weeks ago, heard your name being spoken by the prized fighter, Bill Pierce. I also heard you speaking of a supposed gang, you apparently got Bill, and that irish whore of yours, on board with your gang." The owner answered, Jack began to reach for his revolver.

"Listen fella, I don't want you speaking of Rebecca like that around me. You understand!" Jack growled, raising his voice. Ezekiel looked over at Jack, it became apparent to him that Jack was in love with Rebecca, or had some sort of crush on her.

The store owner pulled back the hammer of the gun, it clicked and was ready to fire at any moment.

"Or what!" The owner shouted, Ezekiel shoved Jack to the side and quickly fired his revolver into the skull of the owner.

Blood splattered all over the wall behind the owner as he collapsed behind the desk, Jack looked at Ezekiel. The adolescent african american was shaking as he held the gun, seeming scared.

"Killing is hard, I'm sorry I have a weak reputation. It's just that.." Ezekiel was interrupted by Jack, whom had a smile on his face.

"You're a good man, Ezekiel. Killing is hard, especially for the ones who have the best hearts. In reality, we need more humans like you in this world. I'm gonna go get some ammo, you take role as the store owner for now until I get back." Jack said before he rushed out of the store and towards the gunsmith.

A citizen approached the store in which Ezekiel was in, he stood frozen, without knowing what to do. He forgot to clean up the blood on the wall behind him..

"Hey, where is Jim?" The citizen asked, implying to Ezekiel that the store owner went by that name.

"He is out of town." Ezekiel lied, trying to trick the Annesburg citizen.

"He isn't out of town, I was here earlier. He told me, that he would have my hunting rifle fixed by the time I got back." The citizen said, correcting Ezekiel.

He balled up his fists and tried to think of another lie to tell the citizen as he began to sweat slightly, beading up on his head.

"He needed some gun oil or something." Ezekiel said with a shaky voice, now the citizen could tell that he was lying to him.

"Cheap ass liar, tell me where Jim is!" The citizen shouted before noticing some blood on the wall behind Ezekiel.

"Holy shit.."

Ezekiel gulped as he knew that the citizen seen the blood, the citizen bolted towards the doors only to get shot in the back by the adolescent. The citizen let out a pained cry and collapsed a few seconds later, a pool of blood slowly forming under him.

An Annesburg deputy noticed some citizens running in terror, he grabbed his revolver, and made his way to investigate the scene. Ezekiel quickly opened up the cash drawers and pulled out a few money clips, the total amount was twenty dollars. The deputy suddenly rushed in and aimed at Ezekiel.

"Stay right where you are!" The deputy screamed, the adolescent african american raised his arms up in surrender.

A few more deputies entered the store and the three of them slowly approached Ezekiel, as they began to tie his hands up with ropes, Marston rushed in with a newly equipped bolt action rifle.

Ezekiel broke free, quickly pistol whipping the deputy behind him, Jack fired a rifle shell into another deputy. Ezekiel would kill the third deputy by shooting him in the chest with his revolver. It seemingly became noticeable that the young african american was getting used to killing.

"We've got to move, now!" Jack shouted, the two raced outside and downed a few more deputies that had already arrived. The two climbed on Arthur, bolting up the hill as fast as the arabian horse could go.

Deputies were on their tail in a matter of seconds, four of them were. Jack could hear them firing at him, and Ezekiel.

"Take care of those deputies if you can." Jack said calmly, Ezekiel turned around and fired at the legs of a horse. Bringing down the deputy but not killing him, he managed to shoot another deputy in the throat. Jack could hear the teen bringing down some men after them.

"You seem quite skilled for a man who's never fired a gun before." Jack said, quite impressed.

Ezekiel would bring down the other two deputies as they neared Doverhill, once those two deputies were downed, the two outlaws vanished into the Cumberland Forest. Ezekiel couldn't believed that he killed quite a few people and his heart was racing a mile a minute.

"It seems that rescuing me and destroying the prison gave us a dishonorable reputation."

Jack chuckled in a nervous laughter, he was filled with concern. The more they killed, the more dishonorable the gang became. With more killings, especially killing the deputies, their bounty would go higher…


	12. Sweet Tonya

(Chapter 12: Sweet Tonya)

Everyone was asleep at Fort Wallace as night fell, Tonya was sleeping in her bed with a sheet of linen laid over her body. She had been tossing and turning most of the night, the thoughts of Sisika still embedded in her mind. Everytime she looked at a doorway, she could see the silhouette of a hanging body in the moonlight. It kept her awake, she was sweating too. She remembered seeing poor inmates going insane, hearing their laughs during the silence of the night. They would echo in the halls of the penitentiary, she had remembered what Dred had told her about Tahiti. She finally got into a good and comfortable position, her sweats stopped and sleep slowly overcame her at last.

The thoughts of Tahiti had helped her drift to sleep, she could picture the glorious evening sun slowly setting. Giving the sky that purple and peach color to it, pure beauty. Tonya imagined herself sitting on the beach of Tahiti, her toes sinking into the sand as the water would cool her down since the sun was beaming down upon her. Instead of a bunch of brutal outlaws, the gang had turned into a huge family in some sort of way. Every couple that was in the gang had been married to each other, the children were laughing, and playing. The calming thoughts would only aid her to sleep, once she was asleep, nightmares would take over…

Tonya was walking down the street with Rebecca, it was in Blackwater during a parade. She had no idea of why they was there in the first place. Large eye appealing wagons rode down the street, dancers, drummers, and some soldiers. There was a massive vehicle rolling down the street, people looked at it in awe. Little did she know, it was an armored tank. It wouldn't be seen in America until next year, this dreamed seemed to be predicting the arrival of new tech. It also appeared that Blackwater had grown into a much larger town, into a city!

Rebecca had a carbine repeater, Tonya had dual wield revolvers, strange since Tonya never killed anyone. The parade went on, and on. Every citizen in Blackwater, focused on the streets, and not the rooftops. The rest of the elites stood on separate buildings, Bill Pierce stood on one, Dred Jackson stood on the one beside of Bill, Jack Marston stood on the one between Bill's building, and Dred's building. The three went into cover while Rebecca, and Tonya remained on the street.

Suddenly screams of terror rang out, rapid fire shots were going off. Several men in black, charged into the streets. Leading the charge, was Jake Lanza. Rebecca took cover behind a barrel, suddenly, a BlackJack member emerged from behind a parade wagon. Shooting Tonya right in the chest..

Tonya was jolted awake by the dream sequence, quickly feeling her sternum to see if anything was damaged. She removed the sheet off her body to see nothing was damaged, she wasn't bleeding either. Tonya looked over to see the silhouette of a person in the doorway, she jumped and cowered against the wall.

"Relax, Tonya. It's me, Dred." The silhouette spoke, making Tonya give out a sigh of relief.

"Oh my god, Dred you scared the shit out of me." Tonya laughed, Dred entered the room and sat down on the bed, looking down at her.

"Sorry, I heard you give out a loud scream. No one is up, are you alright?"

Tonya sighed again in relief and looked at Dred with worry, she remembered her nightmare.

"The parade, we was attacked by men in black. Some massive wheeled behemoth was rolling on the streets, I was shot by a man who held a gun. A gun that could shoot bullets out as fast as lightning."

Dred looked confused, and slightly concerned by the way she described the armored tank and hand held machine gun. Dred had never heard of this new technology, he didn't know it was being used over the ocean in Europe. The year was still 1915, World War 1 was raging on across the ocean.

Tonya was looking out into the camp, at the glowing fire at the center of the Fort. She also looked at the moonlight, then finally at Dred.

"Tonya, I know of a place. We can relax there, together. It's not too far away, I think you'll like it there." Dred explained as he grabbed Tonya by the hand, Tonya smiled sweetly at Dred.

"Sure, let's get going. I'll get the tent." Tonya responded, it was settled. The two would find a peaceful spot for their own.

The two rode out into the night, leaving Fort Wallace behind. They would ride towards The Heartlands, they could tell that they were getting close because civilization got smaller, and smaller. Pronghorns could be seen grazing about, some were resting. Small rabbits ran here, and there. A large herd of Bison could be seen for out to their East.

"Wow, this is a peaceful place. I'd like to camp here, nothing harmless at all out here. No threat of law enforcement out here." Tonya said, amazed by her surroundings. She had never been to the Heartlands before, she lived all her life in New Austin until she was brought to Sisika by boat.

The two seen large hills and rocks, they weren't the size of mountains though. They were not too far away though, Dred would turn down another path, he was followed by Tonya.

"We are getting closer, see that cliff over there?" Dred asked, pointing towards a cliffside in the distance.

Tonya seen it, the perfect spot for a camp. An overlook of the land, they went down the bank of a stream as they neared their location. She yawned, Dred snickered as he heard her yawning.

"Getting tired back there?" Dred asked, Tonya nodded her head.

The two made it to their location as they circled around the cliffside, then they made their way through an opening between the trees. They had arrived at Horseshoe Overlook, it was an overall quiet place. Out in the Heartlands of New Hanover, they set up their tent and took a seat on the cliffside.

The experience was quite calming, the cool air of the night made it even better. Finally, the troubling thoughts subsided within Tonya's mind.

"I-I love this place." Tonya said with a sweet smile on her face as she looked up at the moon, she looked out into the wilderness. The river running below them, and the snow tipped mountains far in the distance.

"Please, can we stay here?" Tonya asked in joy, grasping both hands of Dred, that would make him smile.

"Yes we can, sweet Tonya." He responded right before he yawned, it was getting late at night. The two would need rest for the coming day, they would not know that their next day would be rough. Very rough….


	13. Hurt pride

(Chapter 13: Hurt Pride)

When the sun arose the next morning, Dred woke to see some law enforcement holding Tonya in their arms. He woke to hear her screaming, even though he didn't have Tonya as a girlfriend or wife, he still took up for her as if he was.

"You've got a nice body." He heard a police officer say, how dare they sexually harass her!

"Hey!" Dred shouted as he burst from the tent, pulling out his sawed off shotgun, and then aiming it at the cops before them.

"Let her go!" Dred commanded, the cops didn't listen.

"Listen here bud, we don't take orders from coons like you two. We would ask of you to help us out, we are assigned to arrest anyone within former gang territories, but since we are good boys, we'll allow you a job in exchange for your arrest. A certain gang has been terrorizing all of New Austin, if you help us take out that gang, you'll be free to do anything you two feel. Then you can kiss, marry, fuck each other silly." The leader of the bunch said, Dred was infuriated by what they were saying.

"Do you honestly think that I have time to do your dirty work, you lazy sons of bitches need to be fired. You people are police men, yet you are all too lazy to do something."

"We're in the law enforcement, we don't take orders from low class darkies like you!" Another member of the tiny squad said loudly.

Dred snapped, and pulled his revolver out from the holster, not hesitating to aim at the squadron leader. The other members of the tiny police squadron aimed their guns right back at him.

"I've been called a darkie for long enough, how about you just hand her over to me, we can avoid unnecessary killing right here, right now."

The squadron didn't listen and then the leader took a few steps forward, handing Tonya to the other squad members.

"How about this, Dred, you do as we've asked of you, then we'll hand back your woman."

Dred looked into Tonya's eyes, she was crying in fear, her lips were quivering as tears ran down her cheeks. He looked to the ground, his pride had been hurt badly by these lawmen. He felt sorry for Tonya, so bad that tears started to form in his own eyes, Dred was the person to have the strongest of bravery and will.

"Fine, I'll do your stupid job, if you don't give me my Tonya back to me when I complete this mission, I'll take her away from you with force." Dred growled, his tears were becoming visible as he stared at Tonya once more.

"Dred...I'm scared.." Tonya whispered with tears flowing down her face, her face red from crying hard yet silently.

"I'll come for you Tonya, pray, and I'll be there soon enough." Dred said back in a soft tone of voice, as she was taken away from him.

Whenever the lawmen were out of his sights, and Tonya had been torn away from him. A single tear dropped from his eye and splashed upon the ground, he balled up a single fist. He became so enraged in such a quiet environment, the morning sun beaming down on all of the Heartlands of New Hanover. Birds were chirping in the trees along with a slight breeze in the air, all with the silent wrath of Dred Jackson standing there.

A few moments later he was sitting on the cliff of Horseshoe Overlook, looking down to the ground from up in the air. He contemplated on jumping off, the constant verbal abuse, the humiliation, the wrath, the inner, and physical suffering he had gone through, even though he looked tough on the outside, within him, deep sadness was all that was there.

"I won't let them hurt you." Dred said to himself, his fight turning red from how tightly he was clenching it. His teeth gritting together in rage.

(Later that night)

"Has anyone seen or heard of Dred?" Jack asked loudly, making sure the whole fort had heard him. Everyone didn't respond, some answered with no sight of him.

"He'll be here shortly, don't worry about him!" Bill Pierce shouted from on his bunk, healing from his wounds.

"I worry about him, Bill!" Jack retorted, taking Bill's response as more of an insulting joke. Bill clearly didn't care about Dred, Jack assumed that the prize fighter didn't like being last in command of the gang.

"Why do you worry about him?" Bill asked, Jack entered the room with all the beds and bunks for the nursery at the fort.

"I worry about him, because he is strong, unlike you." Jack growled, Bill's eyes widened. The prize fighter felt his heart leap into his throat with the insult, he looked down at the bullet holes in his body.

"I'm a fucking prize fighter Jack, I'm one of the leaders in your gang, and you treat me like shit?"

"I'm sorry, Bill. I put a man who is more stronger willed in second in command, I put a man who take bullets for people. You shown me at Sisika, that you couldn't take bullets."

Bill growled loudly, and balled up his fists in anger. He was insulted once more by the leader of the gang, there was nothing he could do about it either.

"How dare you, Jack. One day, I'll be the one treating you like shit. I'll stand over you victorious, I would've done this at the fighting pit. Until it all went to hell with you barging in with a greedy taste for money."

Jack looked down at Bill with a smug grin on his face, Bill had the same snarling look on his face. The gunslinger had remembered that he was in the place of Bill back at the fighting pit, Jack remembered that he was the one snarling, and Bill was the one on top.

"You've already stood over me once, I'm not going to allow it again. Turn your back on this gang, rat us out, and see your world crumble before your eyes."

"Jack, you're wrong. Why would I rat you fools out? I am forever tied to this gang, the fighting arena back at Saint Denis was once my only sanctuary, if I am to get kicked out of this gang. I'll have nowhere to turn." Bill growled, balling up a fist.

"I'll take your word for it, I'd advise you to stop acting big and bad. I was never a fan of arrogant people during my childhood." Jack responded as he walked out of the nursery.

The only sort of gratitude that Bill Pierce had of Jack was the fact that the leader of the Marston gang, had given him the health tonic earlier. Bill found Jack to be selfish, Jack found himself to be an excellent leader.

Dred appeared at the entrance of the fort, everyone crowded around him with questions of where he had been all day.

"I need to speak with Marston." Dred announced, Jack Marston approached him and his horse.

"Where have you been Dred? The gang has been worried sick."

"I've been with Tonya, she couldn't get any sleep last night. I took her to an area known as Horseshoe Overlook, when we woke up. She was taken from me by lawmen in the early hours of the morning, I was tasked with dealing with a gang in New Austin. I couldn't find anybody with my Tonya, I want that woman back."

Jack looked on the ground with his hands on his hips, looking in disbelief. He couldn't believe that Tonya had been taken once again, he put the money aside for now.

"Well Dred, we'll find your woman. We need Bill Pierce, and Rebecca McIntyre to be healed of wounds. I promise you though, we will get your girl back." Jack said, giving Dred a handshake.

(BlackWater)

Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza had met up with Archer Fordham back at the town hall building, they were explaining matters of the capture of Jack Marston.

"Jack Marston is remaining on the run, news got out that one of his gang member's woman, had been taken away earlier this morning. Lawmen are searching everywhere for him, it seems that five hundred dollar bounty is working as planned." Douglas explained with great glee in his voice, sounding excited.

"I'd advise you to grab yourself a gang of bounty hunters, and go searching for Jack. Travel all over the state, as far up as Annesburg if you've got to. Do whatever it takes, find Jack. Bring me his best members of the gang too." Archer said, Douglas smirked from ear to ear once he heard the news.

"Oh, I'll get some bounty hunters. I'll bring you Jack."

"I might be running for mayor of Blackwater, it'd be nice to control the FBI over here too. I might just offer you a place in the county. Maybe be the sheriff." Archer announced, Douglas kept his grin.

"Oh, once I find Jack. I'll be in the running for a spot in this town."

"Good luck, the pressure is on though. I've heard that you burned down his house so he has nowhere to run, it is top priority to not let any citizens of BlackWater get hurt during the process of his capture." Archer said, giving Douglas a serious look.

Douglas looked over at Nicholas with a smile, he was thinking of all of the rewards he could receive if he captured Jack successfully.

"Let's move."

The two BlackJack leaders left BlackWater, and headed towards their camp to bring the massive gang the exciting news.

(Fort Wallace)

Dred, and Jack were sitting around the campfire. The gunslinger had never seen Dred so serious looking, he was usually venting his rage and anger on society. Now the strong willed man looked like he was concerned.

"What's wrong, Dred?" Jack asked.

"That Tonya, I've got some feelings for her. Her innocence and kind soul moves me, it is something I look for in everyone really. To see her cry and look hopeless, it hurts my pride. I need her back, she is the only one that keeps me motivated it seems, even back at Sisika."

"I promise you'll get her back, I'll move for Annesburgh tomorrow. She couldn't have gone far." Jack answered trying to ease the troubling mind of Dred, in whom was holding his head in his hands.


	14. Jack Marston vs Nicholas Lanza

(Chapter 14: Jack VS Nicholas Lanza)

It was nine in the morning the next day, the rescued inmates and other members of Jack Marston's gang had been setting up tents for the extra members on the outside of the fort. The others had taken to eating their breakfast, Jack Marston had gone out alone. He left without announcing it, he was in Annesburg.

Jack Marston strolled around on his horse through the train station/mining town portion of Annesburg, he made his way over towards the bridge that crossed over into the town part of Annesburg. The part where he founded his gang, and the same area that he had robbed. As he strolled on the bridge, he noticed an all too familiar patch of dark clothing passing behind a thick tree in the distance. It was a BlackJack member, it was Nicholas Lanza.

"What…" Jack said to himself, he didn't expect the BlackJack gang to stick around so far away from West Elizabeth.

Jack looked up and seen the hill that once had the home of Bill Pierce on, nothing but dark remains of the house was all that was left standing. Jack suddenly felt Bill's pain, he missed living a lavish lifestyle in a home gained from his winnings.

Jack loaded up his cattleman as he strolled over the bridge, being careful to not alert the BlackJack elite. The gunslinger wondered about how he could hide, and continue his search for Tonya. As he rode Arthur through the town, he seen a poster on the wall of the Annesburg sheriff's office. It was him, Jack Marston was wanted for a price off.. 500 dollars!

Jack's eyes widened in shock, he wondered why he was wanted for five hundred dollars, that was loads of money just for him alone. He then realised it was all because of the massacre at Sisika Penitentiary, he figured the BlackJacks would find out at some point. He put his bandana on, so nobody would recognize him, as he put it on, he received some looks from the citizens of town. A citizen had recognized the outfit of the gunslinger and gang leader.

"It's him, it's Jack Marston!" The citizen shouted, Jack rolled his eyes as his cover had been totally blown.

Jack put down the innocent citizen with a single shot to the chest with a cattleman revolver, no mercy. Nicholas Lanza rushed at Jack on his dark shire horse, Jack sped away on Arthur.

"Get your ass over here, Jack. Your bounty is mine, the BlackJacks need this money!"

Jack ignored Nicholas as he turned around a corner, he fled through an open gate. This gate would lead down a path into the forest, the thunderous hoofs pounded into the dirt as Jack's arabian horse sped up a hill and turned right, continuing up the hill. He was still being pursued by Nicholas, the BlackJack wouldn't give up the chase just yet.

The terrain was all new to Jack, no buildings except for Bill Pierce's former home had been built in this hilly area. The Marston boy was filled with a sense of curiosity, he was ready to explore this area and possibly set up camp within these hills and forests.

"Come here Jack, make this easy!" Nicholas could be heard shouting, Jack shook his head as he seen the hat of the BlackJack elite coming in from down the hill.

Jack came up on top of the hill where the scorched remains of Bill's house were, he could see across the Lannaheechee river now and the other side of Annesburgh. The gunslinger heard a revolver go off, it belonged to Nicholas.

"Shit." Jack said to himself as he ran further and further away from civilization, out into uncharted land. To the North of him was fields upon fields, it was like the Great Plains but ten times larger. To his West was forests, and hills.

These forests were more dense and deep than Tall Trees were, the large pines in Tall Trees were spaced out but this one was all compact and close together. Perhaps Jack could hide within this new forest area, he jerked the reins on Arthur to the left and his horse turned left into the forest. Nicholas was not too far behind him.

"Yah!" Jack shouted, making his horse go faster and more deeper into the woods. Once Jack found himself deep enough, he jumped off Arthur and stumbled a few feet. He struggle to keep his footing and fell face forward.

He tumbled down a rocky hill in which was covered up by moss and fell about five feet down into a creek, water splashing up and over him as he landed. He had escaped Nicholas, at least for now. He heard a faint sound of a revolver going off, Nicholas was close but not too close. Jack noticed a rock formation in which looped over an open area, forming a tunnel. Jack's dark outfit would provide great camouflage in this tunnel, he hobbled over and crouched down inside the naturally formed tunnel.

A few moments later, Nicholas came into view without his horse. He held his revolver in one hand, and searched around. Jack watched him intensely, not wanting to reveal himself. He stayed low.

"Come on out, Jackie. Ain't that what that irish whore calls ya?" Nicholas taunted, trying to draw Jack out, it seemed to almost work as the gunslinger grit his teeth in anger.

Jack started to shift backwards to make his way out of the tunnel and to make a mad dash away, he ran out of luck when Nicholas seen a shadow move out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to view the tunnel, and seen the top of Jack's hat.

"Jack!" Nicholas shouted, rushing towards the tunnel. Jack had to move now, he turned around and ran. He heard the revolver gunfire echoing off the rocky walls of the tunnel. He looked to the right and seen a five foot drop down again, he slid down this hill of dead leaves, and took off his hat.

Jack's dark hair blended in with the forest floor of dark colored leaves, dead leaves. His heart was racing rapidly, he was by himself and was fighting against one of the BlackJack elites. He was breathing rapidly yet quietly to stay silent, he looked up the hill to see Nicholas emerging from the tunnel.

"How far do you think you can take this!" Jack cried out, Nicholas looked around to see where the voice was coming from.

"Just come on out, Jack. Just surrender without me killing you, you'll be alive. You'll be sent far away from here though, to some other prison island."

Jack took a rock, and chucked it up and behind him. It managed to hit Nicholas right in the face, making him cry out in pain. The BlackJack elite stumbled into a rock, dropping his revolver, Jack took this opportunity to run further into the forest.

"I'm gonna kill you asshole, no more chances!" Nicholas screamed in rage as he placed one hand over his now bruised eye, he leaned down to pick up the gun.

"Time to party."

Jack heard Nicholas say as he ran through a few bushes, he heard a few shots go off from Nicholas' revolver. Jack's horse followed after him, giving Nicholas an easy thing to follow. The BlackJack elite reloaded his revolver and slowly made his way up the hill and around the bend, slowly chasing after Jack and his horse, Arthur.

Jack eventually came to a creek, running to a ledge and turning into a waterfall. He looked over his shoulders to try and see Nicholas, he didn't see any black clothing, he wasn't taking any chances though.

Jack made his way across the creek, he continued to make his way through the forest. He then heard a faint voice call his name.

"Jack!" Nicholas screamed far behind him, the BlackJack was still hunting the gang leader down.

Jack decided to go down the hills, and travel East. He noticed a large chunk of a tree still standing on the ground, most of it had fell to the ground. The gang leader had an idea, he took off his vest, and he took off his hat.

A few minutes later, Nicholas arrived without his horse. Still holding his revolver, aiming it everywhere until he seen the stump.

"Got you now, son of a bitch." Nicholas fired at what he thought was Jack, a hard thud was heard when the bullet connected, Nicholas raised an eyebrow, then the noises of dead leaves crunching could be heard behind Nicholas.

Nicholas turned around to meet a wooden stick, he was knocked to the ground as he was taken off guard. The tree limb snapped once it was smacked across the skull of the BlackJack elite, making a loud cracking noise that echoed off some more trees, the revolver had been knocked out of his hands.

Jack stood over Nicholas with the other end of the stick in one hand, holding his revolver in the other one. The BlackJack elite had been cut on the head, blood was leaking out of the cut and flowing down his face ever so slowly. Nicholas Lanza gave Jack a vicious snarl as he scooted back towards his gun, Jack fired at the BlackJack's revolver, making it roll out of reach.

"You should have never burned down my house, we would never be having these problems." Jack growled as he aimed at the head of Nicholas as he stood a few feet away from him, Nicholas groaned and slowly grabbed a rock from behind him as he tried to speak.

"I wasn't the one that burned down your house, dumbass. That would be Douglas, Douglas Mulligan." Nicholas growled through gritted teeth, he suddenly threw the rock and it hit Jack on the head. The Marston boy stumbled back, dropping his revolver.

Jack started to bleed from the temple of his head, both were bleeding now. Both were hurt, Nicholas picked up the end of the stick in which had been broken off from the impact.

Jack had fell back against a rock, the stick was standing up since it landed on one end instead of landing on the side. The gunslinger grabbed the stick, and faced off against the BlackJack elite.

"You should have stayed away, now I have to kill you." Jack growled as he rushed forward, shifting his body weight down and forwards, falling into Nicholas and taking him to the ground.

Jack was wanting to place his stick against the throat of Nicholas to choke him out, but the BlackJack member was blocking it with his stick.

"We're only doing it for money, you Godless outlaw." Nicholas seethed, kicking Jack off of him. Jack rolled away and kept his eyes on the BlackJack member, Nicholas took a swing at Jack. Jack ducked and the stick broke against the tree behind him.

Nicholas was quick and he jabbed the stick at Jack's head, it smashed into his skull three times. The last one being near his eye, Jack was stunned and had dropped his stick. Nicholas smirked, and grabbed the other limb. Jack wouldn't allow himself to be beaten, he tried to grab the throat of the BlackJack member, until he felt both wooden sticks smash against the sides of his neck. He started to gasp for air, collapsing to his knees.

Jack then felt a knee strike him in the jaw, knocking him from his knees, to his back. He looked around and seen Nicholas pulling out a knife, the BlackJack got on top of the gunslinger with the knife clutched in his hand.

"Jack, FBI head, Archer Fordham, wants your head for five hundred dollars." Nicholas went to slice off the head of Jack, the Marston boy snatched the hand that was going for his throat. Jack fought desperately with one hand as he reached for a rock with the other one, Nicholas was totally focused on decapitating Jack.

"No, the only time you'll ever see me being punished.. Is on Judgement Day." Jack struggled to say as he bashed the rock in the temple of Nicholas, busting him open again. Nicholas yelped out in pain, and rolled to the side of Jack.

Jack got up and ran, he didn't look back. Nicholas layed where he was, stirring since he had been partially knocked out. His vision was blurry, his head pounded. Jack continued to run further into the forest, eventually coming to a sudden drop down of about ten feet. He fell over the edge and crashed into a hill, tumbling down it. Nicholas slowly rolled over, grabbing the bottom of a tree to pull himself up.

The BlackJack member wiped some blood off of his face with his other hand, he looked down at the dark glove to see the crimson liquid. He heard Jack yelp out once the gunslinger had fell off the edge, now Nicholas knew where Jack had gone.

"No escaping, you're mine!"

Jack could hear Nicholas' voice far off behind him, it was faint yet it was audible. He staggered up to his feet, his head was spinning after tumbling down the hill, and his body ached, but Jack knew he had to keep going in order to keep his gang alive.

He cursed to himself between gritted teeth, as a way to kill the pain for just a moment as he made a limping run towards a river. He noticed that there was a star shaped shore across this river, he was curious about crossing this river, but he needed to have the gang's caravan.

By this point, Nicholas was already up on his feet, and making his way cautiously towards the shore. Jack was unaware that the BlackJack member was already up. He stood on the edge of the shore now, contemplating of crossing. There was a sandy beach, it wasn't huge though. Past this sandy beach was a huge grassland, looking like the Scarlett Meadows in New Hanover with how green the grass looked. In the distance, he seen massive hills, beyond these hills were huge mountains, these mountains were very far in the distance, Jack could only see the snowy tips of these mountains.

Jack whistled for Arthur to arrive, the gunslinger was never taught to swim since his father couldn't swim. He needed a horse to cross it, the arabian horse made its way towards the shore. It would take the horse a bit before it arrived, Jack turned his back to the forest for a moment. Two explosive shots rang out, he felt two thuds go into his back. These shotgun shells to his back caught him off guard, he slowly fell forwards, collapsing into the river bank. Nicholas stood over Jack's body with a grin on his face, satisfied with Jack's death, he nudged the corpse into the river to let him sink to the bottom.

Nicholas would end up leaving the scene, knowing that he had killed Jack before he could have the claim to fame. As he made his way up to the ridge and into the forest, heading back to Annesburg, Jack slowly opened his eyes. He was wearing a vest, it slightly prevented the shells from being fatal. It softened the blows that the shells made into his body, not completely though. Jack indeed had been hit pretty hard, but not to the point of death.

Jack allowed the river to take him upstream, heading East of where he currently was positioned at. He felt a peaceful sense of calmness as the cool river waters washed over his body, even though he had clothes on. He felt refreshed once the waters went over his face, his body didn't sink, he allowed it to float. Jack was never taught how to swim, but he was taught to stay calm in all situations, this allowed him to float.

His horse followed his floating body on the shore, soon the sandy beach turned into a grassy hill, turning into a forest further up. Jack started singing a popular folk song at the time, it was called "May I stand unshaken." Arthur Morgan had sang this song as he marched back towards the Van Der Linde's base at the old plantation house, once he arrived back from Guarma.

Jack's body eventually came to a resting point along a rocky beach, it wasn't a huge rocky beach, it had tiny pebbles, almost gravel like ground. He let out a sigh, Jack liked the cool rivers carrying him towards his destination.

The leader of the Marston gang slowly rolled over onto his stomach, he pressed his hands into the gravel, and pushed himself up slowly. He managed to get to one knee, he felt light headed and hot from the sun beaming down on him as he floated down this river with no name. He turned back around to take a quick drink of water from the river, he didn't care what was in the water, thirst had overcame him.

After his tongue was blessed with the feeling of cool water, he guzzled it down. Jack felt relieved, but he hadn't forgotten the task at hand. He had to find Tonya before something bad would happen to her, he continued to rise up to his footing, and then climbing onto his horse before speeding back towards Fort Wallace with some news to carry.

After a good little trip, he arrived at the front of the wooden fort. He was pleased to see that some camp members had already set up tents on the outside of it, happy to see progress so far. Now if they could get Tonya back, they could start their campaigns of robberies. The gang was off of a rocky start, soon it would have proper footing.

Bill hobbled his way towards Jack once he seen him as the gates were opened, Jack had a look of slight pain on his face, as if he was trying to shrug off something.

"What's wrong, Marston?" Bill asked, Jack rubbed the small of his back, where the bullets had went into.

"I got shot close to my ass, twice, shotgun shells."

Some gang members gasped, Bill had a smug grin on his face before breaking out into a snicker.

"Great, now the leader is injured!" The prizefighter stated loud and proud, as if this was some sort of accomplishment.

Jack limped his way past Bill and growled at him from being agitated by these words.

"I'm fine, Bill."

Jack made his way towards the nursery, sitting on the top bunk where Rebecca McIntyre was laying. He decided to have a conversation with this beautiful young irish woman.

"What happened to ya?" Rebecca asked, Jack slowly removed his dark colored vest, dropping it to the floor below.

"I got shot in the back, by a BlackJack member. He chased me through some forest out by Annesburg, I played dead, he fell for it."

"Damn, that sounds rough."

Jack groaned as he stretched out, feeling the pain in his lower back once more as he outstretched the holes in his body where the shotgun shells hit.

"How are we going to get Tonya back?" Rebecca asked, Jack thought for a moment and sighed.


	15. On the move

(Chapter 15: On the move)

Jack was goaded into heading into West Elizabeth, in a new small town that had been built at the start of 1915. He wasn't one hundred percent, but he muscled through the pain. His trip into the town was quite safe, no one knew who he was. As he was making his way out of town, a bounty hunting team noticed him riding back towards Fort Wallace. The bounty hunting gang slowly followed after Jack, only getting near him once he was close to the gang's hideout.

"Marston, we've come for you!" The leader shouted, Jack ignored the bounty hunter, and continued to run away.

A few people were hiding in cover, behind bushes and trees as Jack ran down the dirt road path towards Fort Wallace. He was around one hundred meters away now, he could see it coming up. Since Jack didn't want his trusty steed, Arthur, to get shot, he hopped off of his arabian horse. Jack ran around a corner, with the five bounty hunters still following after him.

Jack continued to run, slight amounts of dust kicking off of the ground as he ran. He could hear the horses of the bounty hunters galloping close behind him, he could hear their hoofs pound into the ground. Jack dug into his holster to pull out his cattleman revolver, as he got within nine hundred feet within the Fort, he quickly spun around. He aimed at the horse with the leading bounty hunter on it, and fired, the horse collapsed to the ground with it's rider falling off with a thud as he landed.

Jack noticed another rider aiming at him, he did a combat roll, timing the shot just right, the bullet missed his head. Jack then got to one knee, and fired at the other rider's throat, killing him instantly too. Jack turn to ran, in the middle of his turn, he was shot in the arm. Then a few of the Marston gang came out of hiding to help their leader.

Bill Pierce used his volcanic pistol, to put down a bounty hunter close by. Elias Bowen came out from behind a tree with a throwing knife, launching it at a bounty hunter from behind. Caleb Anderson threw a decent sized rock at the last remaining bounty hunter's skull, it took him to the ground but did not kill him. Caleb was quick, mounting the hunter, and beating him to death. The african american could not stand racists, so he continued to beat down on the corpse of the bounty hunter after he had beaten him to death with just his fists. Adams Shaw, another member of the Marston gang, seen what Caleb was doing.

"My friend, I think that man is dead."

Caleb turned his head at Adams after he spoke, he snickered a bit before shaking his head "no". He continued to ram his right hand into the dead bounty hunter's skull. Jack, favoring his arm, approached the angered Caleb.

"Calm yourself, the man is dead." Jack reprimanded.

The members of the Marston gang, carried the corpses of the bounty hunters, and launched them into the water from on top of the cliff. A waterfall overlooked the river at the bottom, the bodies made a loud splash once they hit the water.

Jack and the crew that helped him, walked back to the hideout. Rebecca was awaiting his arrival with a look of concern on her face.

"Someone is dying, Jack.."

Jack's eyes widened, he approached the nursery with the same look of concern on his face as had Rebecca. He entered to see a young boy laying on a bed with a white sheet of linen thrown over his body.

"J..Jack!" The boy called out, Jack Marston approached him and crouched down to one knee.

"I am here, young one."

The boy looked up at the gang's leader, Jack was unfamiliar with this kid, yet the young boy was too fragile to be alive in the cruel wilderness with panthers roaming around the area.

"I'm not going to live any longer, they attacked since I wasn't giving any information out.." The boy struggled to say, having to stutter a few times just to say a sentence.

"Who attacked you?" Jack asked.

"Men in black, all wore dark clothing. I was told that this land was free, and it's wilderness was beautiful. I was raised to go against the rising civilization.. I wanted to be with you guys.." The kid moaned in agony, blood slowly drooling out of his mouth.

Rebecca, and Bill looked at Jack with a look of sorrow yet concern on their faces. Jack sighed and wiped the blood off of the child's chin.

"The damned BlackJacks.." Jack said to himself, he then looked back at the boy.

"I overheard police talking about how your gang didn't like civilization, so I tried so desperately to find you people. I begged and prayed for your location, now I have arrived but in poor condition.." The boy said in agony and in despair.

"You've found us kid, you've found us." Jack said, tearing up at the end of his sentence, his voice was breaking as if he was trying to hold back tears.

"I heard that Rebecca McIntyre, and the champion of Saint Denis, Bill Pierce, are in this gang. I must have been dreaming, but now my idols are here with you." The boy groaned, tears rolling down his cheeks from the physical pain he was going through.

"Jack, you're the leader. Do this for me, bring the BlackJacks to their end. Take down the ones that hurt me, take civilization away… Please.."

A single tear rolled down Jack's cheek, as a leader, he tried to stay strong and not weep, but his kind yet brave heart didn't allow it to be so.

"I want to see my idols." The boy said, looking at Rebecca McIntyre along with Bill Pierce.

The two former fighters of Saint Denis, approached the bed. The boy decided to speak to the undefeated champion, Bill Pierce, firstly.

"Bill, once I pass from this world. I want you to keep fighting, I beg you. Never stop, the perseverance you shown, how you never gave up. It inspired me to not give up my search for this gang. Please keep on fighting in my memory.."

Bill nodded his head and placed his hand on the child's forehead, it was going cold, the child wasn't going to last any longer on Earth.

Rebecca approached next.

"I'm here, darling." Rebecca said softly, the boy smiled and reached out for her hand. The two held hands momentarily.

"Other than Bill, I always favored you. You were the perfect combination between beauty and combat,I was always stunned by how great you were when my dad would take me to see all of you. You guys are truly a dream come true to meet you."

The boy tried to groan out since he was feeling pain, a choked gurgling noise came from the kid's throat as his eyes teared up. Tears then flowed down from his eyes, it was the death rattle, a sign that death was very close..

As a last act, the kid took Rebecca's hand, and kissed it passionately before his eyes fluttered shut. Rebecca fell to her knees, her head buried into the child's chest, she cried loudly. Jack was silently weeping, Bill sighed and then left the nursery.

Jack left the nursery, to leave Rebecca crying for the sweet child in whose last act was to kiss her hand.

"I will not see another death of an innocent, this poor young soul was beaten to near death, and he suffered all the way until he found us. The cause of his death is because of those dastard BlackJacks, the same ones that locked me up at Sisika. The ones who burned down my house, the ones who destroyed the graves of my parents. Show no mercy around those bastards, we shall kill their leaders one by one, I don't care how long it takes!" Jack announced, wiping away a tear from his eye.

The rule to never kill an innocent or let one suffer had been enforced, Jack sat down on a log close to the campfire even though the fire wasn't lit since it was early morning. Bill approached Jack from behind.

"We need to kill those bastards for harming that little boy, we need to seek revenge." Bill suggested out of sorrow for the poor little child, Jack shook his head.

"No, they'll know that I am alive. We need to lay low first, we find Tonya first. Then we take down the BlackJacks, but right after we get Tonya back, we perform our first robbery. We need money to accomplish our long term goals." Jack said, not taking revenge for an answer.

Dred approached Jack, he was hopeful that Tonya had been found. His hopes were not correct, Tonya had not been found yet.

"We couldn't find her, I went into town to where several people had gathered, I heard word that she is being transported into Mexico to serve as a whore." Jack explained, he would allow the rest of his gang to continue eating their breakfast and have some time to talk before they would move.

(One hour later)

It was in Blackwater, Nicholas Lanza and Douglas Mulligan were explaining the death of Jack to Archer Fordham, Nicholas didn't know that Jack was alive and just playing dead. Archer Fordham seemed aware that the Marston boy was alive.

"His father could take loads of bullets, I'm sure that he can take two shotgun shells. I remember killing John Marston along with a group of several American Soldiers, he was still on his feet after all of those rounds we put in him. I'm sure Jack can take loads more." Archer said, taking the five hundred dollars back.

"He was playing dead then, Nicholas." Douglas sighed, his head in the palm of his hand. Nicholas growled and slammed his fist on the desk.

"Shit fire!" Nicholas cursed in anger, Douglas sighed in disbelief and in disappointment.

"If you found him up by Annesburg, travel around that area. Maybe you'll be able to find him up in that area." Douglas explained, Nicholas sighed, he was in denial that Jack Marston yet remained part of the living.

"I'll find him, he won't be standing a chance."

(Back at Fort Wallace)

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make!" Jack exclaimed, getting the attention of everyone outside of the camp and within the fort. The entire gang entered the fort to hear what their leader had to say.

"We will be moving towards Mexico, it is a great distance away. We cannot travel as a single massive group, I fear law will become suspicious. So we will make our movement, squadron by squadron. Our elites will lead the squadrons, we have four elite members. Me, Dred, Rebecca, and Bill." Jack said, loud enough to for the whole gang to hear him.

Jack approached Dred, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dred, you will be leading the colored people of the gang. You have more of a bond with them rather than me, or the other two."

"Sure." Dred responded.

"And also, because you're the most healthy out of us all. Bill will go last since he is the most hurt, but if he wants to be smart about something, he will go first."

Jack then walked back to the center of the circle of people, he looked amongst the people and nodded his head towards Dred.

Dred would lead all of the blacks out of the fort, they would all make their way towards Mexico. It would be a long way to Mexico though, so the gang would have to camp before they reached the final destination.

"Now that Dred is making his way out, we will leave towards Mexico to find Tonya. We will make best efforts in saving her, she is an important member to this gang and for Dred." Jack continued to speak, Bill rolled his eyes.

"In my opinion Jack, we need money before anything. We need supplies so we can get to Tonya in the first place, we barely have enough horses. Even though we stole some not too long ago, we are going to run out. We need more guns, some of these rescued inmates haven't ever held a gun in their life. Those people need to be trained, we don't truly know where Tonya is being held at Mexico. What if she is being held at some other fort?" Bill asked, leaning against a wall and smoking a cigar.

"We will get them trained eventually, we lost many inmates at Sisika, but all of the inmates that stand here with us are good with guns and rifles. Once we get Tonya back, we would get them properly trained." Jack responded.

"Jack, you do realize that Tonya is one person. As far as I'm concerned, she isn't an elite to this gang. Rebecca is the only female elite, that colored woman isn't. By the time we reach Mexico, she would either be killed or have been sold into being nothing but a prostitute against her will, they will find out that she is a former inmate."

Jack approached Bill, not getting in his face, but a close enough distance to make a normal person uncomfortable. Bill was against the wall, Jack was close enough that he could easily shove Bill back into it if the prized fighter was to make a move.

"We will make her into an elite, I can see a fire in that girl's eyes." Jack responded, now sounding serious and straight to the point.

"And how did all of us become elites of this gang? Huh? We automatically had it, I'm a prized fighter of Saint Denis, you're the son of a notorious outlaw. Rebecca is Irish, she has fighting blood, and Dred has the leadership quality due to his time at Sisika. What has Tonya done to get into elite status? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Bill growled, raising his voice to the leader.

"Bill, you're fourth in command of this gang. You shouldn't talk to your leader like that." Jack reprimanded.

"This is America, I have the right to say whatever the hell I want!"

Jack looked back at this gang and mouthed the words to them all "He's gonna doom us all one of these days, I swear."

"What was that!" Bill shouted, he could tell that Jack had said something smart.

"Bill, I'm not going to argue with you. We're going to get Tonya, period." Jack responded, then turning around to continue explain the mission to the rest of his large gang.

"Tonya is not an elite, Jack, or should I say Jackass? That woman is nothing worth than dirt on the bottom of our boots.."

Those words enraged Jack, everyone else looked extremely angry at Bill Pierce. Jack was fired up, and he marched right into Bill's face.

"Bill, if you keep it up with that smartass mouth, you won't have a place in this gang, I'll kick your tail right out of it. Then you will be the one that amounts to dirt under our boots." Jack growled, getting eye to eye with Bill.

"I already amount to dirt, you pissed all over my name. I had fortune and fame with my glory days at the Saint Denis Fighting Pits, I was undefeated since the very beginning. Then you wash it all down the drain by placing me in fourth place, ever since I joined your petty ass gang, nothing but bad things have happened to me. My house was burned to the ground, I got shot up at Sisika, this gang is nothing but a curse to me." Bill responded, sounding calm rather than Jack, who was angry.

"Well Bill, you're legacy has came to an end. You can rewrite it in my gang, or you can leave and suffer within the wilderness." Jack sighed, seeming that there would be no way to make Bill Pierce change his mind.

"You want to talk about legacy Jack? How about I take you back to the year 1911, your father's legacy died."

Jack smacked Bill at full force across the face, making spit fly out of the prize fighter's mouth, even knocking him over since the slap came out of nowhere. Jack then hooked his arms underneath Bill's, and forcefully dragged him to the gates of the fort.

"Everyone, on your way out of this fort, give Bill a slap with all of your might. He will learn the hard way to screw with the leader."

As the gang made their way out of the fortress, squadron by squadron, each member gave Bill smacks across the face. The whole intention was to humiliate Bill, and to make him know his place within the gang. It would also serve as a final warning to Bill, if he did anything else, he would be kicked out of the gang. There seemed to be a rift growing between Bill Pierce and Jack Marston as every situation became serious and more unlikely for the gang, these events seemed to prove if Bill was faithful to the gang or not.

Bill was the last left standing, he didn't decide to make his way after the gang, instead he remained at the fort. He watched everyone leave his sights, going in separate directions to avoid being caught by the law enforcement. Once everyone was gone, he went back inside of the fort, sitting down on a log by the campfire.

Bill didn't like the idea of him being in a gang anyway, he never even wanted to have a gang lifestyle. He knew the old West was dying out, he declared that 1911 was the turning point in history as civilization slowly took over wilderness, and the cowboy and outlaw way was dying out. Bill was seemingly forced into the gang, he didn't see a life without being a prize fighter for Saint Denis.

(BlackWater)

It had been a few hours since the Marston Gang had began to make their way towards Mexico in separate convoys yet they would meet up at the Ramit de la Baya bridge, although they would add more members to their gang as time went on. The bounty hunters had not returned, the two BlackJack elites reported back to the BlackWater town hall to speak with Archer Fordham.

"Where are my bounty hunters? those were my best ones!" Archer Fordham shouted, these bounty hunters were the best in all of West Elizabeth or atleast to Archer.

"Well, it seems that your best isn't going to do Mr. Fordham." Douglas sighed, Nicholas sat up and looked over at the BlackJack leader.

"Well, you were the ones that burnt that bastards house down, I'd expect you to take care of them. Continue to fail me, and you'll have no chance of making it in this town." Archer warned, Douglas rolled his eyes.

"We're trying, we don't know where that man lives nor his gang. All we know is that they are up in Roanoke Ridge."

Archer Fordham then snapped "Then look in that area!"

The BlackJack members were given the command, the two went back towards Thieves Landing to discuss matters with the other elites along with Markus Van Der Linde.

(A few hours later)

It was in the afternoon as of now, Bill Pierce continued to sit alone at Fort Wallace. He had eaten the provisions in which were left behind, he liked it better alone, it felt calming to him. As he sat by the campfire, he heard what sounded like someone entering the Fort. Bill turned towards the front gates to see none other than a dirty William Barlow standing before him.

"Ho-How the hell did you get here!" Bill shouted, quickly aiming a schofield revolver at the former owner of Sisika Penitentiary.

"Wanted posters all over town, I tracked you up here. I assumed that these soldiers belonged to some sort of fortress, the wanted posters for a man known as Jack Marston, said that he was last seen up in Roanoke Ridge. The only fort I know up here is Fort Wallace, and look who I've found sitting all alone by the campfire." Barlow explained, Bill aimed at Barlow's hand as he could see that the cruel man was going for his holster.

"Pull a gun out, and I shoot your hand right off." Bill warned, William Barlow raised his hands into the air as in surrender.

"Now leave, get out of here." Bill growled as he fired a round into the air, Barlow slowly backed away.

"I haven't came for you Bill, I am hunting for Jack, maybe you can tell him where he is gone off to." Barlow said, suggesting to the prize fighter an easy go to option. Bill did not like Jack, but he would not rat the gang out.

"I'm not telling you anything, he is going far away from here, I am not giving any specific location out." Bill answered, Barlow then simply walked away.

After William Barlow had suddenly barged in, Bill decided to close the fort's large wooden wall. He headed into the watchtower to see if any threats were coming towards the fort. He patiently stood still with a carbine repeater in his arms, waiting for anything to approach the fort.

Minutes went by with nothing happening, up to an hour, Bill didn't move from his spot and his eyes were fixated on both the dirt roads in front of the fort. Then, the prize fighter felt the urge to piss, so he went out of the watchtower and pissed onto the wooden logs for the campfire.

Once Bill returned, he looked out of the watchtower window to see six people riding towards the fort from the big path out in front of the fort. They had appeared so sudden, and startled Bill. He reached down on the floor for the repeater.

All were riding dark colored shire horses, and all except for one was wearing black to dark grey clothing. The man that wasn't wearing dark clothing was Markus Van Der Linde, Bill had recognized him due to the face.

"Ah shit, here we go again." Bill groaned as he seen Markus, he didn't know what these men were coming for, but he knew it wasn't good.

The prize fighter decided to hide in the corner, letting the dark shade of the room hide him from the outside. He could hear the men speaking amongst themselves, their speech only getting more louder as they approached.

"Ah yes, look at all these tents around the fort. This is where the Marston gang is, no more hiding!" Douglas Mulligan shouted as he fired at one of the tents, the other men fired upon the fort. The bullets did nothing to the thick wooden logs that made up the fortress.

Bill was under siege by six men, all except for one was the big members of the BlackJacks. These had to be the elites of the gang, they had to be. The prize fighter remained hiding in the corner, he then heard a loud whistle, a bullet flew through the window and smacked into the wall.

Bill remained quiet, he started to get nervous, it was one person against six people. He seemed to be at a huge disadvantage, the six men continued to relentlessly open fire at the fort. Bill crouched down, and slowly walked out of the place of hiding.

"That's it, blow the damn gates in. Plant the dynamite and blow it up." Douglas growled, speaking to Shaw Jackson.

"Oh shit.." Bill cursed to himself, he ran down the stairs, making a mad dash for the gatling gun that was aimed right at the gate.

Bill didn't waste no time, and opened fire at the front gate, he wasn't going to let these six men get inside of the fort. The gatling gun rained bullets at the gate, putting tiny holes into it one by one. The machine gun eventually drilled a few holes through the thick wooden logs, breaking through and almost hitting the six men.

"Ah damn, Jack isn't giving this place up without a fight." Nicholas growled as he ran around to the backside of the fort, to avoid being hit by the bullets. The six men split up in pairs of two, and went on all sides of the fort.

Bill Pierce was being flanked out by the BlackJack elites and Markus Van Der Linde, he then heard glass shattering. A watchtower had caught on fire, a molotov had been thrown. Suddenly, he noticed a stick of dynamite flying through the air, he dove away from where he assumed the spot would be. The explosive stick burst, causing Bill's ears to ring, he growled loudly in agony as he covered his ears.

The prize fighter then looked towards the front gates, another explosion was seen, tiny splinters of wood went flying all over the place as smoke slowly clouded the front of the fort. Bill staggered up to his feet, ready for a final stand if this was to be it. He slowly reached for his holster, to get the revolver out. He seen Douglas Mulligan, and Nicholas Lanza charge in through the smoke cloud.

Bill quickly aimed at Douglas as he staggered around, Bill was still rocked from the explosion and his ears still rang loudly. He fired with not even paying attention, the bullet missed Douglas. The prize fighter then swung his revolver around sluggishly, firing at random. One of them almost hit Nicholas, but it missed. He was hit in the gut by a shot from a cattleman revolver, he growled out in pain, then collapsing. The voices of the BlackJack elites were blurred as they approached him.

"Wait a minute, this isn't Jack." Nicholas said as he put the gun back in his holster, he was the man who shot down Jack and now Bill.

"Jack isn't dead, you sons of bitches." Bill growled, as he seen the rest of the six men enter through the gaping hole in the gate.

"He's useless, let's dispose of this wounded animal now." Jake said coldly, aiming his double barreled shotgun right down at the prize fighter.

The word useless stood out in Bill's mind, in his mind, he was only good for being the prize fighter of Saint Denis, now he was alone and at the mercy of the BlackJack elites. Maybe Jack Marston was right, Bill couldn't succeed without the gang, maybe Bill's urge and feeling was right. As a possible last act of defiance he uttered the words "I'm not useless."

Bill waited for the killing blow, but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Markus Van Der Linde standing over him with a cocky smile on his face.

"Nice to see you again." Markus said before breaking out into devious snickering, Bill rolled his eyes.

"You're not useless, how about you prove it." Douglas growled, making a signal for Jake to put down his shotgun.

The BlackJack gang allowed Bill Pierce to live, out of fear for his own life, he sped down the road to try and catch up with the Marston Gang. Now after almost dying to the BlackJacks, he found that the Marston Gang was the only source of protection…


	16. Bloodsoaked Memories

(Chapter 16: Bloodsoaked memories)

Bill raced down the road on his horse, he couldn't believe that he was alive. The BlackJack gang had murdered a child, leaving the poor boy to die once he reached Fort Wallace. The prize fighter rode through the Scarlett Meadows of New Hanover, memories going through his head as he rode down the dusty road. The word useless continued to haunt his mind, though it reminded him of life back at the Saint Denis Fighting Pit, and life before being a brawler.

(1901)

Bill Pierce was thirteen years old in the year of 1901, he was given a lancaster repeater by his father, Joseph Pierce. It was a snowy night, his family lived in a log cabin up in Canada. Pierce would soon move out of Canada, and down into Saint Denis. His family had been starving, a huge winter storm had barreled into the extremely small town, everyone had evacuated except for Bill's family.

The family was starving, if they were starving, they were weak, and if they were weak, they could get sick and possibly a deadly disease. Bill was the youngest and most healthy, he wouldn't give up. He would provide for his family, not matter the cost.

Bill laid on his stomach, buried in the snow, looking down the sight of the repeater. His dark colored jacket had been coated in a sheet of glistening white flakes that had fallen from the sky. The teen shivered as his thin jacket didn't provide that much of protection against the cold, harsh weather of the North.

"I wish I was still in Texas.." Bill groaned to himself in between stuttering shivers, amidst the snow, a large dark figure was walking. The snow was falling so much that it caused a huge whiteout, the only thing Bill could see was white. This creature had to be big.

Bill slowly inched closer, now he could see the outlines of big antlers. He had encountered a moose, it would provide perfect big game meat for the family, an excited smile cracked on Bill's face. He placed his shaky finger on the trigger of the repeater, he then heard a faint voice call out to him from a good few feet behind him, yet close.

"Son!" The voice called out, startling Bill since he was so focused on the moose, Bill accidentally opened fire. The moose would proceed to run away, squandering any opportunity for food.

"I'm worthless!" Bill cried out, letting go of the repeater, pounding his fist into the snow. His father approached from behind.

"You tried son, you did." Joseph said, crouching down to his sobbing son.

"I'm useless dad, I have tried to provide for you through this storm. Nothing has worked, we're going to die in this storm, aren't we?" Bill sobbed, the thoughts of the teen were hopeless at this point. It was almost if he had no reason to cry.

"You're not useless son, you have a purpose in this world, we all do." Joseph Pierce said to his sad son.

(1915)

Bill snapped out of his memory, his memory of attempting to hunt down a moose for his starving family. A tear had left his eye, and made its way down his cheek, he tried to fight against the urge to cry, but he couldn't help it. He started to sob, his breaths hard and huffs would come out.

"I'm..Not useless." Bill sobbed, his voice breaking as he struggled to say those words. He remembered of how he was almost killed by the BlackJack elites back at Fort Wallace. Those words could've very well been his last ones.

Bill suddenly thought of his place in the gang, how he was put in fourth in command, the lowest rank to command the gang. He remembered on how he was slapped by every single member of the gang as they left, he remembered how Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre taunted and teased him when they first shown up at Doverhill Laboratory. He remembered on how his house was burned down by people he once thought as friends. It all reminded him of how he had to depend on the gang, despite them humiliating him everytime he tried to speak his opinion. It reminded him of how.. Useless he would be without the gang…

"I'm not… useless!" Bill cried out in a loud sobbing yell, balling up one fist. Bill was twenty seven years old and Jack was only twenty, he couldn't believe that a person almost ten years younger than him, was bossing him around. He then had a memory of his first fight at the Saint Denis Fighting Pits.

(1911)

Bill had moved back down South once he turned twenty years old, now he was twenty three years old. He stood across the pit from his first ever opponent, Landry Dell. Ever since that fateful day in 1901 when his father told him that he wasn't useless, those word drove Bill to never quit. The crowd booed both fighters since they were rookies, Bill balled up his fist in anger.

"I'm not useless." Bill said to himself as Landry charged at him, once Dell was within range, the man from Canada slammed his fist into the jaw of Landry Dell. The rookie was knocked onto his butt from the uppercut motion from Bill Pierce.

"Shit.." Landry groaned as he rolled over to his stomach, Bill looked at his tightly clenched right fist and a smile slowly cracked upon his face. Rodger Cornwall smiled from afar, liking Bill Pierce.

Landry was slowly trying to crawl over to the barricade, to pull himself up. Bill stalked his downed opponent, his right hand cocked and ready to punch. Landry slowly looked over at Bill, a right hand slammed into the temple of his skull, the knockout blow. The crowd cheered Bill like crazy, impressed that the rookie knocked Landry out with only two punches. It was on the twentieth show that Bill Pierce made his debut.

"Winner!" Rodger Cornwall screamed with excitement, walking over to Bill, and raising his hand.

"Impressive showing my man, keep it up."

Bill smiled at those words, he looked around at the cheering crowd and smiled on with pride being his only expressions. He felt that this place was home, a home he would have for a good few years at least.

(1915)

Bill smiled as he continued to ride through New Hanover, now approaching the town of Valentine. The memory of his first fight would always remain in his head, he now tried to focus on his journey to Mexico, following after the Marston Gang.

The Marston Gang was in New Austin now, just entering the region. They rode through MacFarlane's Ranch, it all looked the same. A new barn had been built, Bonnie watched the gang pass through her ranch. She looked at Jack as he rode with Rebecca on a wagon with other gang members in the back, she didn't know that John Marston had passed away, so she thought Jack was his father. She smiled at Jack, and Jack smiled back, not knowing who this woman was.

"Should we rest, Jackie?" Rebecca asked, Jack shook his head. He still wanted to get far ahead, he wanted to be as close to Mexico as possible. He then thought of a place, Fort Mercer, it would be a perfect resting place if it was to be empty.

"No, we rest once we reach Fort Mercer. My father told me about it time and time again, it is the perfect place to camp at. There are gatling guns, and even a canon has been placed there. However, it may be guarded heavily. Mexico is under the rule of a tyrant, so he might have soldiers stationed at this particular fortress."

(That night)

Caesar Chavez was a soldier from the army of Abraham Reyes, Chavez was stationed at Fort Mercer so no one could possibly attack Reyes. There was a few hispanic prisoners there, they were protestors of the tyrannical rule of Reyes.

"Chavez, we're starving, we need food!" A mexican prisoner shouted, Caesar marched down the stairs and approached the cells that housed these prisoners.

"I listen to no peasants, I only listen to Abraham Reyes, and Reyes only." Caesar responded, turning around to head back upstairs to watch out for people coming towards him, but as he headed towards the stairs, the prisoners continued to shout at him.

"You're so loyal, I wonder if you suck his cock!" A female prisoner shouted, Caesar gritted his teeth in rage, but then a wicked smile came across his lips.

"You talk like a whore, Ms. Gonzalez, how about I make you mine?" Caesar said deviously, turning towards the cells once more, now approaching them. Mr. Gonzalez could only watch in horror as Caesar Chavez unlocked the cell.

Ms. Gonzalez was fast, and tried to hit Caesar, but she received a massive backhand across her face. A yelp of pain could be heard from the young hispanic lady, her husband was furious.

"Don't you hit my wife! Damn you!"

"Guards, take my position and watch for anything that moves out there!" Caesar commanded, a few guards marched up the stairs with rolling block rifles in their arms. Caesar continued his approach on Ms. Gonzalez.

Mr. Gonzalez grabbed the iron bars of the cell, and shook it furiously, a loud rattling noise came from the bars but they wouldn't budge.

Caesar pointed his winchester repeater down at Ms. Gonzalez's skull, forcing her to remove her blouse. In tears, the hispanic lady removed her top, exposing her larger than average breasts.

"You've got some nice tits, bitch." Caesar complimented in a sinister tone, he removed his pancho, and then his shirt.

A loud thud was heard from outside of the cells, Caesar slowly turned his head to see what had happened. A guard had fell from the watching position, the other guard was taking cover. Caesar raised an eyebrow, and left the cell in which contained Ms. Gonzalez.

"Did Ricardo get drunk on the job, what the hell is going on out here!" Caesar shouted, furious to see that a guard had fallen. The highest ranking soldier in Reyes' army, seen blood slowly pouring out of the guard's head.

"We're under attack!" The remaining guard shouted, looking down at Caesar with a look of concern. This caused the other guards to take positions, watching over the land all around the fort.

Not too far away, Jack was hiding within a large bush. The moon was the only source of light and the lanterns inside of the fort, the gang had hidden their convoy behind a hill so the guards couldn't see them. The dark clothing of most of the gang allowed them to be almost perfectly hidden in the cover of night, Jack was armed with a rolling block rifle as well.

A shot rang out, and another guard fell from the watching position, hitting the ground with a loud thud. A few more loud and explosive shots rang out, the guards and Jack Marston trading shot after shot.

"Dammit, where is he!" A guard shouted right before he was hit in the head by a bullet from the rolling block rifle. Caesar growled furiously, and marched towards the back of the fort. On this side, a gatling gun was sitting on the upper level of the fort.

Jack slowly looked over at a few of his gang members, that decided to help him out with clearing the fort. The shots seemed to be getting more close, they could hear bullets fly by the bushes. They all remained silent, Jack was trying to plan out a way to get inside of the fort.

"Okay, we've got to make our approach soon. There is no back door to this fort, there is only a front. We need to throw some dynamite inside of this fort, to clear it out. Once we shake this fort up with the dynamite, we charge in through the front." Jack explained, he and his members rushed through the shrubbery to stay hidden from the guards. They could hear the shots of the rolling block rifles going off, some were close, some were far off.

Ms. Gonzalez looked over at her husband, she then looked at the guards opening up the front gates of the fort. She seen Caesar manning the gatling gun, her husband looked concerned. She had an idea, to set the other prisoners free. There was ten prisoners in total, all of them were locked in five cells with two people inside. The cell in which contained Ms. Gonzalez remained opened, forgotten by Caesar. She carefully made her way out of the cell, and ran alongside the cells, unlocking each of them by pulling the lever to the side.

Caesar seen the prisoners rushing out of their cells, and towards the ladder in which would lead to the upper level of the fort. He fired upon them with the gatling gun, downing a few yet most remained alive.

Meanwhile, Jack and the members heard the gatling gun going off. There seemed to be a lot of commotion within the fort, he made a mad dash towards the front of the fort. The members following after him, he pulled out his cattleman revolver, aiming it up at the guards with the rolling block rifles. Jack took in a deep breath as he ran, time slowed around him, using the dead eye ability, he downed all three guards with headshots. Dred tossed Jack a stick of dynamite, the Marston boy lit the stick up, and hurled it towards the front.

The dynamite burst, sending the guards flying into the air, Jack had heard the gatling gun going off. As he charged in with his members, he allowed his dead eye ability continue longer, he aimed at Caesar's knee, and fired three times in a row. The mexican soldier yelled out in pain, and collapsed to the floor. This allowed Mr. Gonzalez to approach the elite soldier from the army of Reyes, Caesar reached over and grabbed the gatling gun to pull himself up.

Once Caesar had pulled himself up, Mr. Gonzalez slammed a kick into his gut. Caesar grunted in pain, and fell off the edge. Falling to the ground..

Meanwhile, far away, Bill Pierce was about to ride through BlackWater. He was slowly getting closer to New Austin, yet still a long ways away from Fort Mercer. At the same time Caesar hit the ground, Bill had a new memory..

(1914)

Bill slammed into the dusty ground at the Saint Denis fighting pits, he was defending his championship against a large fighter, yet this man was tall. Lou Scherr, this large fighter from North Carolina always gave Bill a run for his money. It seemed that Lou would almost always win, but Bill would somehow come back into the fight to win it. Bill was twenty six years old, now sporting his famous mustache, he groaned in pain, reaching for the barricade.

"You want the barricade!" Lou Scherr boomed, dragging Bill up, and hurling him into the wooden barricade, putting splinters down his back. Bill looked like he wouldn't be winning this one, Lou marched towards the center of the room and let out a victory yell, getting the crowd seemingly on his side.

Suddenly, the prize fighter's memory entered his mind. "You're not useless." Bill heard his father say in the back of his head, Bill uttered the same words as he slowly pulled himself up with everything he had left. Lou looked shocked once he seen a bruised, and bloody Bill Pierce standing up again.

"I'm not useless.." Bill growled, Lou Scherr charged at him, it was almost like a repeat performance from his first fight. Bill let out a battle cry, slamming his fist into Scherr's jaw as hard as he could. Lou staggered back, rocked by the uppercut.

Bill wasn't done, charging at Lou Scherr with a jumping forearm across the skull. Scherr was spun around, yet he was still standing. Bill ran around Lou, and then slammed his right hand into the side of Scherr's skull. Lou Scherr collapsed to one knee, Bill stood out in front of his biggest rival in Saint Denis, and let out another battle cry. Bill Pierce backed up, and then charged at Lou for a final knockout blow.

The crowd gasped once Lou stood up, heaving Bill into the air. Scherr caught Bill in his arms, and went to slam him down with authority. Bill hooked one arm around Scherr's head and drove his head into the dusty ground with a DDT, yet Bill had all the air knocked out of him from the slam.

Rodger Cornwall walked over to the two downed fighters, this was no doubt the best fight in this companies history. Bill had his eyes open, although halfway shut, Lou Scherr was out cold.

"Ladies and gentleman, your winner of the evening, and still the champion!" The crowd roared and cheered once Cornwall announced that Bill Pierce remained the champion of Saint Denis, Bill was helped up by the son of Leviticus Cornwall, a smile cracked Bill's face as he adored the crowd.

(1915)

"Have you seen a girl named Tonya?" Dred asked aggressively, trying to intimidate Caesar into telling him where she was.

"I have no clue of who the fuck you're talking about, describe her." Caesar groaned, he had been beaten up by Dred and now thrown forcefully into a cell. The Marston gang had managed to clear out all of the guards, the rescued prisoners from this fort was now part of the gang.

"A beautiful young african american woman, with dark hair and a gorgeous body, tell me where she is!" Dred shouted, Caesar slowly got to all fours.

"I sent her to Abraham Reyes, El Presidio.." Caesar groaned, Dred nodded his head.

"But she might have stopped somewhere else down the road, I don't think Abe likes weak women.."

Dred growled, and proceeded to beat Caesar to death with his bare hands. The Marston Gang allowed this to happen, the convoy continued their trek towards the fort in which was now liberated. This fort was even better than Fort Wallace, instead of wooden logs for walls, most of it was made out of concrete. When the gang was inside of the fort, Fort Wallace felt cramped while this one felt more open and could fit more people.

Jack decided to welcome the liberated prisoners to the gang, which these hispanic people gladly accepted. Dred dragged Caesar out of the cell and thrown his beaten down corpse onto a pile of dead guards.

"Elias, haul these bodies onto a wagon, throw the dead into the San Luis River." Jack ordered, Elias nodded his head and went to to the task, Dred approached Jack.

"Caesar spoke of a place called El Presidio, Tonya is rumored to be alive, I still grow ever more worried for the woman."

Jack nodded his head after Dred delivered the news, Mr. Gonzalez gave the gunslinger some helpful information.

"El Presidio, stands for the prison, he is mentioning a large military stronghold. That is almost impossible to get inside, there is loads of cannons and gatling guns stationed at this fort. There is only two ways in, it sits on the edge of a cliff. The side entrance is a dangerous way in, because it is also close to there is a dangerous drop, one wrong step is fatal. To make matters worse, Reyes and his army controls it."

Jack had a growing concern within his chest once he heard this, it sounded like saving Tonya would be a bad idea, but he didn't want to lose a strong member in which was Dred Jackson.

"How do you suppose we get inside this fort?"

Mr. Gonzalez thought for a minute, thinking intensely. He had been at El Presidio before as a rebel with Abraham Reyes, he was then kicked out and jailed once he thought Reyes became a tyrant. This would greatly help Jack and his gang.

"We strike at night, El Presidio is in between two hills of rock, we have the best snipers take out the cannon at the front, from the hills. There is a watch tower that is perfect for sniping, take out that sniper. While this is happening, half of the gang will charge in through the front, while the other half will take the side entrance. The gates will probably be shut, so we'll blow them up with dynamite."

The elite members of the Marston gang, aside from Bill in whom hadn't shown up yet, agreed to Mr. Gonzalez's plan to enter El Presidio. The gang, rapidly growing in numbers, would storm the El Presidio stronghold the next night…


	17. Constant Movement

(Chapter 17: Constant movement)

Later on that night, Bill Pierce arrived at the large wooden gates of Fort Mercer. Rebecca was the first one to welcome him back, two gang members opened the gates to let the prize fighter in. He looked around the fort, everyone had settled in for the night.

"Good news, Bill. This fort allows extra ammunition and weapons for dozens of other gang members, we have set free ten prisoners from those cells. So we have two weapons left, this fort allows us to have a great advantage. There is only one way in, at the center of the fort is a gatling gun situated on top of a building. With the skill of our elites, we will be unstoppable." Jack said, placing his hand on Bill's shoulder.

"Jack, that's good. What about Tonya, are you still on board with rescuing her?"

"We're going to rescue her, El Presidio lays a great distance away from here though. Tonya might have passed through a few places, so we'll check through those places first. Our main fortress and camp will be at this fort, so we'll be doing lots of moving around."

Bill sighed and then responded to Jack with what he was wanting to be answered.

"Okay, how are we going to get her though?"

Jack smirked and then began to explain Mr. Gonzalez's plan.

"She's being held or going to be held at a mexican stronghold known to many as El Presidio, it fell to Abraham Reyes, a rebel back in 1911 with the aid of my father. There is many cannons and gatling guns at this fortress, it will be extremely hard to get in regardless of this smart plan." Jack explained, then Bill became agitated.

"Several cannons and gatling guns! For God's sake Jack, you're sending us to our deaths!"

Jack rolled his eyes, he tried his best not to annoy or anger Bill, it seemed impossible. Bill looked at all of the hispanic inmates that had been set free, and all of the rescued african americans from Sisika.

"You're leading all of these minorities to their deaths as well, they wanted to be free from their prisons, these colored people suffered and now you march them onward to death, what kind of leader are you Jack?"

"Bill." Jack growled in a warning tone, it seemed like it would be a repeat of what happened back at Fort Wallace almost a whole day ago since it was currently midnight.

"We get Tonya back, that's final."

Bill shook his head as Dred slowly emerged from his lodging within the fortress. Dred could hardly get to sleep without worrying about his Tonya, he loved her a whole lot more than the other gang members expected.

"You're going to lead us all to slaughter just for one damn person! That woman is dirt under our boots now, look towards the future and forget about the past!" Bill cried out, Jack noticed Dred approaching angrily, he decided to leave Dred with Bill.

"Why do you throw Tonya under us all? Tell me Bill, are you jealous that we're in love with each other. You just can't get a wife or a girl, face the facts." Dred said calmly, trying to not get angry with Bill.

"Oh bullshit, you two aren't in love. She doesn't even know that you love her at all, you two just started talking! Leave the woman behind Dred, one life isn't worth dozens of deaths." Bill growled, he seemed like he had a point.

"I'm sorry Bill, I'm not resting until we get Tonya back. Do you know why I kept my head held high back at Sisika? It is because of her, she kept me driving for success, she kept my hopes up. In the end, she is the mastermind behind my will power. I have sought her as more of a idol than a woman, a woman that every young girl should look up to. She has beauty, she is charming and caring, and nice. I don't care how many people die, I need Tonya, Bill. I'm not leaving this world without her either." Dred responded, his voice now starting to sound angry.

"You don't care how many people die? Is there a method to your fucking madness!" Bill screamed, getting right in Dred's face.

"I'm sorry, I must have gone a little too far, but if blood has to be spilt, let it be spilled. This is a stronghold, I'm pretty sure it has seen it's fair share of blood and death in the past." Dred desperately tried to remain calm but he found it hard to do so.

"Okay Dred, I'm going to leave this conversation at this. You can't get over her, you can't simply leave her behind even though she isn't even an elite of this gang, you will let all of these innocent people die, even though your wife has probably gotten fucked to insanity by several mexican dicks!"

That was the final straw, and Dred gave Bill a hard right hand to the jaw. Bill was sent stumbling back, then falling onto his ass, looking up at Dred with a face of pure rage.

"Let.. her.. Die!" Bill roared as he slowly charged up from his sitting position, running into an elbow strike to the temple from Dred, again knocking Bill to the ground.

Bill groaned in pain after receiving the blow, his mouth ate the sand that was on the interior ground of Fort Mercer. He started to crawl towards the wall, getting the same memory of his fight with Lou Scherr from back in 1913.

"Do you think I cannot whip your ass, you may have been a prize fighter and an undefeated champion, but you've never met me you honky!" Dred growled, scooping up Bill and then launching the prize fighter into the concrete wall.

Bill yelped loudly once he slammed into the wall, he again slammed into the sandy ground of Fort Mercer. He then remembered his father's words from many moons ago.. "You're not useless" those words now came back to Bill, it had been a really long time.

"I'm not useless.." Bill growled as he slowly stood up, Dred balled up his fists and stared down the prize fighter as he rose to his feet. Those three words usually meant that Bill would come back and win the fight, Dred charged towards Bill.

"Don't you dare talk about Tonya like that!" Dred screamed in anger, Bill balled up his right fist and got into a ready stance. Dred's pride had gotten the best of him, his love for Tonya caused him to turn violent.

Once Dred was within range, Bill slammed his fist into Dred's jaw, flipping the script for moments earlier. The african american member stumbled a bit back, but didn't fall. Bill charged forward, rushing at Dred to deliver the knockout blow.

Dred heaved Bill into the air and slammed him down to the ground, but much like how Lou Scherr's fight went down, Bill hooked an arm around his opponent's throat and drove Dred's head into the ground for a DDT. Dred wasn't knocked out, and continued to punch Bill in the side over and over again.

"Have you two lost your minds!" Jack shouted, breaking up the fight. He was angered that rifts were growing already in his gang.

"He was talking about my woman, throwing dirt on her name. I'll have no one speak about Tonya in such a way!" Dred shouted in rage as he got up, Bill smirked and then snickered.

"You act like you're dating her, and you're not. I'm trying to save our asses from dying at El Presidio, if Jack isn't a fool, he would make the right choice, and forget about Tonya."

Jack watched the two argue on and on for a few more moments before snapping.

"Okay, first thing tomorrow morning, we all head out. We'll stop when we feel necessary, we get Tonya back, and that is that!" Jack shouted, then storming off to his lodging to sleep for the night.

(A few hours later)

The time was four in the morning, everyone had fell fast asleep and was peaceful. The moon beamed down upon the hill in which Fort Mercer sat upon, the crickets chirped all around the new camp of the Marston Gang.

Mr. Gonzalez had woken up due to a noise he had heard from the front of the fort, it was a repeating thud of a noise. When the hispanic member approached the large wooden double doors, there was marks on them, and the door was slightly opened. Mr. Gonzalez slowly approached Jack Marston's lodging to tell him what was going on. Something else was waiting for him in the room, a BlackJack member had arrived. It wasn't an elite member nor Markus Van Der Linde, it was just a random female member.

"Hey, what are you doing here!" Mr. Gonzalez shouted, aiming his revolver at the woman with the knife in her hand. Jack Marston slowly opened his eyes.

The woman turned around, to see Jack pointing his cattleman revolver at her. The BlackJack woman was outmatched now, Mr. Gonzalez looked at the gang leader.

"Jack, who is this girl?" The hispanic member asked, Jack slowly got up with his revolver still aimed at her head.

"It's a member of a rival gang, don't kill her but take her prisoner." Jack said, Mr. Gonzalez fired his revolver into the air. The BlackJack member spun around to get hit in the head by Jack's revolver.

After a few minutes, Jack had a lantern in front of the member to interrogate her.

"Where did you come from?" Jack asked, the rival gang member didn't say anything.

"Say something." Mr. Gonzalez growled, standing guard for his leader.

"We suspected you went to catch somebody, since you abandoned your old camp, we figured you traveled somewhere else far from New Hanover. Now that I've found you all, they shall come for me."

Bill suddenly walked out of his lodging to urinate, he noticed the BlackJack member in the cell. Bill sighed, he knew that the gang would eventually be found.

"Well, we've got to move now before more of them come. Or else we all get slaughtered by the BlackJacks!"

Jack groaned in annoyance, he then stood up to look over at Bill.

"For the first time, you're not a useless fourth in place elite, for once you actually have a point!" Jack tried to joke, not knowing Bill's history with the three words.

"That's something you don't know about me Jack, I'm not useless, how about I leave this fort? Then you'll all die and I won't have to suffer from your asshole ways. You're not a leader Jack, I should be it!" Bill declared, Jack shook his head.

"No, you shouldn't be the leader. You're right about one thing though, we all need to move." Jack responded, the gunslinger proceeded to wake everyone up from their peaceful slumber. All needed some more rest, times were difficult.

Bill dealt with the BlackJack woman with a single punch to her jaw, knocking her out in one hard strike. After around thirty minutes of packing up the convoy, the gang stirred themselves awake. Jack rode beside Rebecca at the front of the large caravan.

"Jackie, I'm so tired.." The irishman yawned, Jack stroked her long smooth hair.

"It's okay Rebecca, we'll get some rest. I've got a plan, once we reach El Presidio, and take control, we'll get all the rest that we need." Jack said with pride, and hope in his voice.

(Not too far away)

It was in the Rio Bravo region within New Austin, there was a now massive oil drilling site located quite close to the bridge to cross in order to get to Mexico. This oil drilling site was Plainview, the reality of the situation, is that the BlackJacks had taken over the oil site. Not all of them arrived though, only a decent sized squadron and a couple of the elites. They had arrived while the Marston Gang slept at Fort Mercer.

"We can't sit around, Jake, we've gotta drive into that fort at full force. One person isn't going to do the job." A BlackJack member said, with another carrying a wolf carcass on his back. Jake Lanza bit off a piece of game meat received from a wolf he had skinned earlier.

"We'll shock them when we find them again, let that girl be a warning sign that we are close… Very close." Jake responded as he chewed down the piece of meat.

"How are we going to shock them, brother?" Nicholas Lanza asked, Jake grew a smug grin on his face.

"You'll see."

Nicholas sat down by the campfire to discuss matters of destroying Jack and the legacy he has so far created for himself.

"Jack is a good strategist, or so I think. If his gang lives to see the year of 1920, I will be very surprised. The FBI has taken out almost every single gang with the quickest of ease, Jack Marston's gang hasn't even been touched by law enforcement yet." Nicholas said, seeming impressed by what Jack has done so far.

"He is indeed a hard egg to crack, but in the end, civilization will prove too much. There will be cities everywhere, all of this wilderness will be gone, instead there will be towns, busy streets. Maybe we won't need horses in the future. So far though, the law hasn't recognized the BlackJacks, at least in these new territories across the Grizzlies mountains. We are getting an edge on the Marston Gang, we have driven them from all the way as far as Roanoke Ridge, now down to Mexico."

The Lanza brothers continued to discuss plans to stop the convoy of the Marston Gang from continuing into Mexico, at this point, it would be too late to stop them…

After several minutes, the entire Marston Gang convoy was officially in Mexico. One of the members looked over his shoulder to see them slowly leaving America behind, what was before them was a massive desert. Red sand was everywhere, large natural formations too, such as Ojo Del Diablo. Since it was still four in the morning, it was still dark, the moon was still shining. The cool air of the desert at night, and the silence around them all, it gave the whole gang a feeling of calmness and peace in the storm that was still raging on, the storm that was the gang life.

As the gang slowly passed underneath the natural bridge like arch formation of Ojo Del Diablo, Bill rode up beside of Jack's wagon at the front of the convoy.

"This place is called Ojo Del Diablo on the map because so many bad people pass under here, much like ourselves."

The convoy started to make their way around the curve, they noticed a lone wagon sitting still in the night. Jack looked down at Bill, and then pointed to the wagon.

"Check and see if this isn't a trap by the BlackJacks, that woman was one warning sign that they are close." Jack commanded, Bill did as was told.

Once Bill arrived at the wagon, he found nothing inside but the person driving was in bad condition. His clothes had been torn, and his body was quite bloody. It was a white man, he seemed to be barely clinging on to life.

"They did this…" The man groaned in agony, Bill knew who "they" were, and he took the wounded man back to the Marston convoy.

"Not a trap, but this person must have been attacked on the road. The BlackJacks are in Mexico already, they got here before us somehow." Bill announced as he rode to the back of the convoy to place the damaged man in the back of a wagon.

"The damned BlackJacks are already here.. How?" Rebecca asked, Jack was thinking about that same question as Bill rode by.

"They must have snuck past us while we were asleep, now we have no damn clue where they could be." Jack groaned, continuing to lead his convoy further into Mexico.

"Did anything happen to a woman named Tonya?" Bill asked as he continued to ride closer to the back of the large convoy.

"Yes, she was barely clinging on to life. The BlackJacks, they attacked me. I was to drive the girl to the fortress El Presidio, she's bound to be dead by now.. I'm sorry, I had no weapons. I only had passengers in my wagon when I was ambushed, I suggest you head to Escarela.. That place is abandoned.. It would serve as a great resting spot." The unknown man moaned, barely hanging on to life.

"Thank you for the information, how far did the BlackJacks travel into Mexico?" Bill asked, trying to get as much information as possible.

"The BlackJacks would either have taken Tonya towards El Presidio, or they would have taken her to somewhere no one knows about, and shot her." The man groaned before blacking out, not dying, but passing out from the shere pain he was in.

Bill had made it to the back of the convoy, and he laid the man down in the wagon as another member rode it slowly behind the other wagon in front of him.

This unknown man was secretly a BlackJack member, he was beaten severely by his crewmates to the point of near death to give the look of a critically injured stranger, it just went to show the savage ways the BlackJacks went to trick and trap people. It almost always worked, the injured man wasn't even ready for what he received.

The Marston Gang continued to ride towards the nearest settlement or fort that could hold the gang in, Escarela was the perfect place. Bill told Jack of what the injured BlackJack informant said, the entire gang was still unaware that the hurt man was a member of their rival gang.


	18. Gaining strength with numbers

(Chapter 18: Gaining strength with numbers)

The sun had risen by the time the Marston Gang had arrived at Escarela, it was a small yet not great big town. However, it was perfect enough to give all of the members a base. They had room for several more members, it was great, but it wasn't extremely protected like a fortress.

Everyone was overly exhausted from a long trip from the early morning hours, they had been on their feet almost all day and most of the night. The sun had risen well a few hours ago, it was nine in the morning by the time they all arrived. The gang members' eyes all were drooping, including Jacks eyes. As the convoy approached, some of the members got off their wagons and horses, then collapsing from the pure exhaustion.

"Alright, everyone settle in. Find yourselves a place of rest, and everyone sleep for the coming night. Tonight we siege El Presidio, tonight we get Tonya back. Tonight we…" Jack passed out and was snoring seconds later.

"Good pep talk, Jackass." Bill joked before he himself slumped down against the side of a building, everyone slept out in the open, luckily, no one was attacked.

When everyone woke up, it had been five solid hours since everyone had gotten some sleep. The first thing that Dred did, was head up to the villa at the top of Escarela. As he made his way up the hill that the whole town sat on, he seen more pieces of torn clothing from Tonya. His heart slowly sank into his chest with each and every step.

"No…" Dred said in disbelief as he entered the villa after a few minutes of looking around, storming into each house just to see more torn clothing from the clothes that Tonya had worn.

Dred entered the villa and broke down into fits of angry yells and sobs, tears of regret and rage poured down his face quickly. In the center of the villa was a small puddle of blood, and a picture of a younger Tonya. Bill had followed after Dred just to be sure he didn't do anything stupid.

"I'm sorry Dred, it seems that Tonya didn't make it.." Bill said in disbelief as he left the room, Dred continued to cry, then falling to his knees before the puddle of blood.

"Such an innocent woman, robbed from her precious life." Dred weeps as he grabbed the blood covered picture, the black and white had been stained a red color.

"Such a happy young child, not knowing what would happen to her when she got older. She went through Hell at Sisika, I'm just glad she is free from this cruel world." Dred said alone, no one else to hear him, he hoped that the soul of Tonya would hear his words.

Dred would be found a few minutes later sulking, and moping against the wall, his eyes were bloodshot from how much he had cried. Jack entered the villa, and sat next to him.

"I'm sorry Dred, for all of this. I know she was special to you, everyone at Sisika was special. Everyone we lost at Sisika was special to us, Jeremiah, Joe.."

"No, it's fine Jack. I had gotten used to all the death around me, except this one, it hurts me. We traveled so far, we risked people dying just for nothing… Bill was right." Dred sobbed.

"I remember I was in your situation, I was alone in the world. I didn't grow up with friends at a school, I only had family, the only family I've ever known was in gangs. I had gotten used to all the death around me, two deaths hit me the most. When my uncle, Arthur Morgan, passed away from Tuberculosis on a mountain top, and when my father was shot to death by dozens of law enforcement. Those moments, drove me to do what I am doing today. When the Van Der Linde Gang just slowly fizzled out of existence, I felt alone even though I had my father and mother."

Dred and Jack sat in pure silence, the two listening to the other members chat amongst themselves in the settlement of Escarela.

"And even when I had my father and mother, I wasn't able to see my father and mother for long before we was separated. It was so long, when my father finally killed off the last remaining crooks of the Van Der Linde Gang, he was returned to me, but it wasn't long until he was shot dead. Three years went by, I had to take care of my mother, Abigail. On the third year, my mother got sick, it only got worse. The only woman I learned to love in my life, slowly fading away from me, it hurts to see it happen. When she died, nothing else remained. The good members from the Van Der Linde Gang, are all gone. Charles Smith, traveled North into Canada, Sadie Adler is probably out of state.." Jack's eyes began to tear up at the mentioning of his mother dying from sickness, his voice was breaking when he mentioned the names of the still alive members of the Van Der Linde Gang. Jack wiped away a tear from his eye before continuing.

"Once I finished burying my father beside my mother, I knew what had to be done. I had to kill the man that killed my father, I had to get redemption for all of the gang members, even the ones that had been killed by my father, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, Dutch, those people felt like great people who just didn't want to give up a life they lived for so long. So I stayed at a cabin by the lake, lake Don Julio that is. I stayed in that cabin alone, no wife, no child, just in isolation for the rest of the year. The reason why I started this gang is not just to gain money, to go to Tahiti. It is because I want a family." Jack looked out of the villa for a moment to see Rebecca walking by, her amazing beauty in the grand morning light, the sad depressed look on the face of the Marston boy slowly turned into that of a smile.

"I think I have family."

Dred looked up at Jack as he left the villa, he had a message for the leader of the Marston Gang.

"There's gonna be Hell to pay, we've gotta take out the BlackJacks, one by one if we have to."

Jack smiled down at Dred, and as he pulled out a gun to shoot target practice, he said one last thing to him.

"Once we get into El Presidio, nothing can stop us then."

As for the rest of the BlackJack gang over in West Elizabeth, they was slowly gaining members.

Douglas Mulligan was offering people to join his "bounty hunting" squadron, when the citizens of Blackwater became interested, they ended up joining his gang. The BlackJacks continued to grow in terms of size.

"We need standouts, not elites, but standouts." Markus suggested, Douglas turned towards him with a look of confusion.

"I am not a member of this gang, but I help it out greatly. Therefore I am a standout, but we could use more."

Douglas then understood, so far the son of Dutch Van Der Linde was the only standout in the gang. Though, he was curious if there was any more that Markus could find.

"Find somebody." Shaw said as he took a sip of Kentucky bourbon as he sat on a box in the corner of the room they was in.

And so Markus set out to find some standouts, he would end up finding three. He would find Lou Scherr, the big man in which Bill almost lost against every single fight. The BlackJack elites were calmly waiting.

"So, who did you find?" Douglas asked, the 6'8 Lou Scherr stepped into view. Ever since the fighting pits at Saint Denis was shot up and attacked, the big man stayed silent. A man about the size of Bill Pierce shown himself next, the man's name was Brodie Low. The third and final member of the three standouts made his appearance at last, his name was Mickey Owens.

"I've got three standouts, the big man is Lou Scherr, he is a former Saint Denis arena fighter. We've got the hard hitting mercenary, Mickey Owens, and we've got the vicious Brodie Low. Now, do you mind telling me where the Marston Gang are located?" Markus explained, then asking where the location of their rival gang was.

"I've sent the Lanza brothers after them, a decent sized portion of our gang left with them. If they couldn't find the Marston Gang, they would have already been back to us by now. It has been a whole day and now we are in the middle of the 2nd one." Douglas responded.

"That isn't my question, where are they?" Markus asked sharply, the leader of the BlackJacks raised an eyebrow.

"Somewhere beyond this West Elizabeth, I don't know where Marston could be in New Austin with his gang. I came down from the Grizzlies and into Tall Trees, we haven't been nowhere near New Austin as of yet, or at least I haven't."

Markus nodded his head, taking the answer.

"Me and my mercenaries shall wait until the time is right, nothing can stop us. No walls can stop us, no fortress can stop us."

Both gangs, although in different territories, were building up their gangs. The two seemed to be in an all out war to kill each other, it seemed that the Marston Gang had great strategies, but the BlackJacks had an answer to their strategies…


	19. The Destruction of Armadillo

(Chapter 19: The destruction of Armadillo)

The day continued to move onwards into the night, it was five in the afternoon. The sun casted an orange blazing glow over the lands, giving the large rocks in Mexico a red appearance and most of the deserts throughout New Austin. The Marston Gang had been training the rescued inmates from Sisika, how to handle a gun with various sizes. The elites, except for Jack, was practicing deadeye skills.

The rest of the BlackJack gang had come to an agreement that they would make their way down into New Austin, moving out of West Elizabeth as the law enforcement began to approach their land. The women and children of the gang stayed back in Thieves' Landing, and would come later on in the year. Allowing their children to grow.

Rebecca aimed at a whiskey bottle in which was sitting on a box, Jack was guiding her arm around like a parent teaching their child to shoot.

"Oh Jackie, I know how to shoot." Rebecca laughed, making Jack snicker and smile.

"Now just take in a deep breath.." Rebecca took in a deep breath. "Slow and controlled." Jack added, giving her some helpful information. Rebecca slowed down her breathing, suddenly time slowed down around her. A smug grin came upon her face, letting Jack know that it was working.

"Nice shit eating grin, partner." Jack joked, making Rebecca giggle yet still keep aim.

Rebecca turned her arm towards another glass bottle, she opened fire, time still remained slow, she aimed her arm towards another glass bottle, and fired again. She had learned how to use her deadeye skill.

"How is it?" Jack asked, Rebecca smiled before giving the Marston boy a cheerful hug.

"It is awesome, everything in my vision went red, and I could focus a whole lot more."

Jack raised his eyebrows and decided to give some more information.

"My vision is orange like when I use deadeye, deadeye is used only in dangerous situations or you have a large animal attacking you. You can also use it for hunting if you want to, but it is a key skill not to waste. I find that drinking some alcoholic drinks fill it up and make it even better."

Rebecca nodded her head and grinned, she was happy to receive this helpful information. Bill was watching from afar, seeing the two interact caused his heart to sink slightly, since he had feelings for Rebecca. Bill snickered to himself.

"Get a room you two." Bill said in a joking tone before practicing deadeye on some pots hanging down from clotheslines.

The sound of several bottles shattering could be heard as Dred had already mastered deadeye, his determination and rage worked well. He spun, grabbing a tomahawk axe from a crate, and then hurling it at a dangling target, the axe made a bullseye.

"Hellfire!" Dred shouted, he was war ready for the BlackJacks. The strong willed african american was ready to bring the rival gang.

(Hennigan's Stead)

All of the BlackJack elites, including Markus and his mercenaries, was riding through New Austin to find any sort of fort that Jack Marston could be hiding in with his gang. A huge majority of the male members from the massive BlackJack gang rode along too, they was taking the path that would lead them into Cholla Springs and towards Armadillo.

"I was reading a map recently, a map of this whole state, and some parts of Mexico. There is a settlement down this hill called Armadillo, perhaps these people know of a fort." Douglas announced, Markus rode up next to him.

"What if these people don't comply with our questions?" The son of Dutch asked, Douglas smirked and formed the shape of a gun with his fingers.

"Then we'll take Armadillo for ourselves, and we'll force the question to be answered." Douglas answered.

"Where are the Lanza brothers?" Shaw asked, Douglas shrugged his shoulders. The leader of BlackJacks truly didn't know where the brothers of his gang were located.

"So we're just going to run these people of Armadillo off? Think of the young people." Shaw said, he seemed to be the only one that had reason among the elites.

"Shaw, the old west is dead, we're essentially the undead walking this Earth. New technology is taking over, soon towns will be all you see over this large desert of Cholla Springs. The people that we run off will have roofs that are over their heads." Douglas responded.

They began to run down the hill that would lead out into the huge desert of New Austin, they could see the town of Armadillo in the distance. The buildings looking tiny from where they all rode, if you was to stand in Armadillo, the only thing you can see rushing down the hill was a mass of jet black clothes on dark colored shires.

A devious grin slowly creeped onto Douglas's face, New Austin had never seen the likes of the BlackJacks before, aside from the Lanza brothers. No land East of the Grizzlies, or Redemption mountains had seen them. It was time to make their presence felt.

"Remember, it's all about making a statement boys!"

The BlackJacks edged closer and closer to the quiet town of Armadillo, no one was expecting them, all except for one person in particular that wasn't part of Armadillo, no one knew where the man came from. He wore a nice looking suit and a top hat, accompanied by a twirling mustache. For some reason, this man always shown up when a large amount of life would be lost. He was known to some as the harbinger of death and destruction, no one knew his name.

Seconds passed by, then a dust cloud could be seen in the distance where the BlackJacks was coming from. The paperboy of Armadillo noticed this dust cloud seemingly approaching in the distance, then the faint sound of horses neighing, several horses..

Then the BlackJacks broke through the dust cloud that the hoofs of their horses had kicked up as they all ran, all of them had weapons drawn, some had some fire bottles at the ready. The paperboy seen this and a growing sense of dread started to start in his chest.

The sight of a massive gang charging towards a town on horseback, guns drawn, and all having looks of malicious intent on their faces was a sight rarely seen, even when large amounts of gangs still existed, those gangs usually snuck into a town. The BlackJacks seemed to be extremely confident, indeed it was all about making a statement. The paperboy made a mad dash for the sheriff of the town, the sheriff was Jason Swinson, taking place after the legendary Leigh Johnson retired in 1914 after serving 17 years.

"Swinson, a gang, a gang is coming!" The paperboy cried out, as he heard another faint noise of a horse neighing, this time the noise was dangerously close.

Swinson ran outside followed by a couple deputies, the paperboy hid inside of the sheriff's office. Gunshots were heard, followed by a thud right outside the door, the sheriff had been shot dead by Douglas Mulligan. Another thud was heard, one of the deputies had been shot dead too. The citizens all ran in fear as the BlackJacks charged into Armadillo, but those poor citizens just weren't fast enough, and they was all gunned down. The other deputy, hid behind a barrel to take cover. A BlackJack member race past the other side of the sheriff's office, the deputy was shot in the back, he let out a pained growl of agony before collapsing into the barrel, knocking it over.

"Markus, take your mercenaries, demand where the Marston Gang is. Spare no one that doesn't comply!" Douglas shouted as he shot a running civilian in the head with his winchester repeater, Markus nodded his head, and his three mercenaries headed towards the Armadillo saloon.

Most of the citizens had crowded into the saloon, all of them were trying to go upstairs or hide behind the bar. Markus downed a man and a woman with his sawed off shotgun before shooting his revolver into the air for three rounds, the bullets digging through the ceiling and went up into the balcony, an unlucky citizen felt the bullets go right into his genitals three times in a row. The man yelled out in extreme agony, grasping onto his bleeding balls before falling over the guard rail. A native american member of the BlackJack gang launched a tomahawk at the man's throat as he fell, it was a direct hit, decapitating the falling man.

"Alright, let's keep this short and sweet. Does any know of a Marston Gang? They probably passed through this town two days ago?" Markus asked loudly for the silent citizens to hear him, no one answered despite them all knowing that another gang passed by the town a few days ago.

"We can make you all talk, we have no problem in killing all of you!" Markus shouted, aiming his revolver down at one innocent man's head, the man crouched down with his hands protecting his hands.

Suddenly, a drunken man approached the son of Dutch and the three mercenaries. He was tumbling all over the place, using the tables to hold himself up as he approached Markus.

"Hey buddy, go fuck yourself." The drunken idiot of a man said, then snickering a bit, Markus didn't find this funny, and nodded towards Lou Scherr.

Lou Scherr in all a lightning fast motion, snagged the drunken fool's head and jerked it to where it was almost turned around in a 360 degrees rotation, a loud snap was heard, and the drunken man fell to the ground, dead via neck snap. A woman and her child struggled not to scream after seeing the man laying on his stomach, but his head facing backwards. The man's eyes were wide open and had the thousand yard stare in his eyes, his mouth hung open, no emotions, just dead..

A loud explosion was heard, dynamite had been thrown into a building. Then the sound of shattering glass was heard, somebody had thrown a fire bottle at a building. A few people were hiding in the Armadillo theatre, a few BlackJack members barged in, and killed all ten people in just a matter of seconds, a few children, a couple of women, and the rest of the men all shot down as they frantically scrambled around to try and get to safety.

Douglas marched through the streets, shooting down any stubborn civilian that tried to run or fight against his gang. The smell of smoke was entering his nostrils, buildings were burning due to the dynamite and the fire bottles. The leader of the BlackJacks could hear the anguished cries of the people that burned alive inside the buildings, then to hear the screams of agony fall silent just a matter of moments later.

"Destroy everything, leave nothing left of this town! Burn it all down!" Douglas ordered, minutes passed as every building was blown up or in the process of being ransacked and burned.

All police that arrived on the scene was shot down instantly by the BlackJacks, nothing could stop them it seemed. The cruel gang made sure to rob any store or steal any valuables that the town offered them, not even the animals were left. A dog was biting on the leg of Douglas for a moment, a BlackJack member shot the dog dead without no remorse or any sign of hesitation.

A whole town's worth of money now belonged to the BlackJacks, a whole town's worth of weapons belonged to them, all of the food and items at the store belonged to them. Even the loot of the dead was theirs, the dead animals that they killed were skinned quickly.

All thirty of the BlackJacks that had rode with Douglas, thirty four counting Markus and his mercenaries, stood in the streets now littered in piles of rubble from the blown up buildings and some scorched pieces of wood.

Now the only citizens remaining was crowded in the Armadillo saloon, no escape for any of them. Six BlackJack members aimed their guns down at the floor in a single line, each man beside each other, like a firing squad. A couple of people had been killed since no one would answer Markus's demands.

"Fine, a large gang passed through here. I am not giving any more fucking details to you savage people!" The man screamed, one of the BlackJack members forcefully dragged the man out of the saloon, and thrown him into a burning building.

"I have a better solution." Markus said, the citizens were forced out of the saloon and was ordered to stand in the middle of the street. Fifteen citizens all grouped up, huddled together, the children at the center being protected by the adults. Five children, ten adults. Some of the children's parents were already dead.

Mickey Owens took two fire bottles, one in each hand, and looked intensely at the crowd of innocent people, eyes wide like a crazed beast and his face shaking with anger. Lou Scherr stood with a meat cleaver, the rest stood with guns.

"I'm giving you all to the count of five to tell us which direction this gang headed in, if there is any fort here, or if anyone spoke about leaving this state!" Douglas shouted, no one in the huddled up crowd of innocence spoke, the children were all crying.

Douglas felt sympathy for the children, and the kids were taken away from the adults. The children were spared to be raised in the BlackJack gang. The adults made attempts to help the kids, but all of them were shot down. Now only five civilians remained of Armadillo, only five mere children.

Douglas looked at all of the burning buildings around him, the dead bodies littered the streets. It smelled of rancid smoke and burning flesh, most of the larger buildings were collapsing as the fires spreaded out of control.

"This town has been burned, there is no saving it anymore." Markus said to Douglas, the BlackJack leader grinned and turned towards his gang to make an announcement.

"Any settlement we come across, we destroy it, we will destroy anything and everything until we find Jack and his mongrel horde! Leave no town left standing, burn all towns to the ground!" Douglas shouted, after a few seconds of gathering up valuables into large bags. The BlackJack men moved out of the destroyed town of Armadillo.

After so many years, the small settlement of Armadillo had been destroyed. It had been destroyed in brutal fashion, with everything being ransacked, and all civilians save for five children, murdered. All just to make a statement..


	20. The siege of El Presidio

(Chapter 20: The Siege of El Presidio)

It was the black of night, The Marston Gang had been practicing their deadeye skills, and preparing for an all out assault on the military fortress of El Presidio. The hoofs of their horses pounding into the dusty road as the ones willing to attack the headquarters of Abraham Reyes, they had been riding ever since the clock struck 11:30. They wanted to arrive at midnight, to attack when the guards were weary and tired.

"This is it, when we see the lights of the fort up in the air, we stop and make the plans. I am following the instructions given out by Mr. Gonzalez, you all follow the instructions carried out by me!" Jack announced as he rode his horse, his large amount of men and brave women following behind them on horseback.

"I'll teach them not to mess with my Tonya ever again, if we take this fort, no one can challenge us." Dred said bravely as he had a look of seriousness on his face.

"We shall have the bragging rights to do so." Bill responded to Dred as he rode next to him, Bill seemed to have a confident yet disbelieving look on his face, which Dred had noticed.

"Why the long face?"

"I'm still not sure about attacking this place, but it is too late to turn back now. What happens is what happens."

The Marston Gang continued their ride onwards to the stronghold with revenge on their minds, they were looking forward to raiding this military fortress.

Jack had eyes in the sky frequently, looking to see the orange glow of the lanterns and lights from within El Presidio. Most of the men came with this gang, a lot of the women stayed back at Escarela to keep the camp in check.

After a few more minutes of riding through the night, and through the desert, Jack noticed a bright glowing light beyond the horizon of a rocky hill. They had reached El Presidio, the Marston boy raised his arm into the air to stop the gang.

"Alright, this is how this is all going to go down." Jack spoke as he hopped off of his horse, hitching it on a nearby rock. All of the gang remained on their horses since some members would charge into the fort right through the doors.

"I'm gonna take this hill here on our right, Dred, is going to take this infront of us. We will hide on top of these hills with some long range scope rifles, I have a rolling block, Dred has a carcano. As we do this, Rebecca and Bill will split the rest of you into half. Half of you will charge through the front, the other half will charge into the side entrance." Jack announced first, Mr Gonzalez. Was smiling since he figured this plan would be perfect.

Jack started to slowly sneak up the other hill in a crouching position, rolling block rifle in his arms, he looked back at the gang to provide further instruction.

"There is word to be several cannons and gatling guns in this fort, there is a cannon right at the front looking at the central path leading into the front of the fort. Do not charge until I give the command, for the ones that are taking the side entrance, be careful. There is a long drop with no protection for falling, the ridge is big enough to fit a half of this squadron, watch your step!"

The plan was going underway, Dred starting to make his way on the rocky hill in front of the gang while Jack took to the other one. Bill's heart was racing, he didn't know if this plan would work, he did know that there would be a loss of life for sure.

Once Dred reached the top, he got into a lying position on his belly, aiming his carcano rifle at the guard manning the cannon at the front. Jack did the same thing, aiming at a sniper on the large watchtower. Jack began to countdown in his mind from ten going to one, a countdown before bloodshed. The gang had been split in half, Bill would lead the charge through the front while Rebecca would lead the charge through the side entrance.

Once Jack got to one, he aimed at the sniper's head and fired. As he predicted, the sniper instantly collapsed, the guard manning the cannon started to turn it towards the direction in which he had heard the shot of the rolling block rifle go off at. Dred was quick to take out the cannon guard before he had a chance to fire at Jack's direction. The leader of the Marston Gang jumped up to his feet and pointed his gun at the large fort before him.

"Charge!" Jack cried out, Dred would follow Rebecca and her squadron into the side entrance. Both squadrons began to charge towards their assigned spots.

The time had come, Bill's heart raced as he let out a loud battle cry with his squadron towards the front, rifles and guns in hands. There was no turning back now, the battle had begun, Jack took out a stick of dynamite and hurled it into the fort. The dynamite landed close to a gatling gun, and then exploded, knocking over the machine gun.

At this point, the guards had been awakened by the commotion outside. The guards had heard a loud pop go off, then another loud pop, the sound of a person shouting "charge!" and then a lot of people screaming a war cry.

The guards knew that the gang was under siege or some large amount of people was attempting to attack, they all scrambled to get out of their beds. Abraham Reyes was the first out of his office, he was sitting where the sniper was, inside of a watchtower.

"What's going on!" Reyes shouted as none of his soldiers were up and defending yet, they would soon spill out of their locations within the fort. Tonya was chained to a post in the room in which Reyes was sitting, crying in fear for the whole time she remained there.

The poor woman had been stripped almost naked, having only panties on. Her clothes had all been torn or removed from her body, she had many cuts and bruises after being forced to have sex with a few of the guards, she had every member of her heart raped away against her will. The sound of people screaming, the battle cries getting louder, it put a great big smile on her face. Bill's squadron broke in through the front, Reye's soldiers hadn't even arrived yet.

Reyes took an evans repeater from his desk, taking cover behind the door, he would peak out of the watchtower with Tonya cursing at him loudly. The Marston Gang squadron that Bill was leading, now began to spread apart, throwing fire bottles at whatever thing that could easily spread fire. Bill took towards the prison cells to set free the inmates, this would gain the Marston Gang even more members. Some mexican soldiers began to make their appearance, one of them running into a shot to the head from a Marston Gang member.

Bill had finished setting free the prisoners, a loyal member to the Marston Gang jumped out behind of the prize fighter to take the bullet from the evans repeater of Abraham Reyes. The member was killed instantly by the powerful gun.

Reyes began to make his way out of his watchtower, taking cover behind the banister of the stairs in which would lead down into the yard of the fortress. Bill ran up the stairs, heading for another watchtower, beside of him was a long building. The prize fighter decided to make his way into the long building first, he ran alongside the wall. He came to a doorway, a mexican soldier popped out from the doorway to get shot in the chest by Bill. Another soldier instantly appeared, then getting rammed in the skull by the butt of Bill's rifle.

A few more soldiers ran out, instantly going for the gatling gun to get the machine gun to a standing position once again. Bill tried to shoot them all but there were too many going for the gun, two soldiers was picking up the gun, and was being protected by three mexican soldiers out in front and behind them. Any Marston Gang member around them was shot down, then the mexican soldiers got the machine gun to a standing base once again. Another rallying cry of a good few more men came from the side entrance, Rebecca's squadron was making their way in. The mexican soldier manning the gatling gun slowly turned it to face the side entrance, he started to open fire. Every gang member that entered the side entrance was gunned down by the gatling gun, they stood no chance. However, Dred was able to snag a falling body and use it as a meat shield, Rebecca was wise and hid behind the wall.

Bullet by bullet rammed into the meat shield in which Dred held, a lifeless corpse taking bullet by bullet. Reyes seen Dred holding the dead body out in front of him as he slowly made his way in, from the point at which Reyes stood, he could easily see Dred. The tyrannical leader quickly aimed at Dred's arm to shoot the corpse out of his arms, he fired and the african american elite's arm was hit. Dred growled out in pain and dropped the corpse, but at the same time, a bullet went right through the head of the soldier in which was manning the gatling gun. The soldier collapsed and Dred was safe, he took cover behind a large crate underneath a porch. Rebecca now made her way inside of the fort from the side entrance now that it was safe to enter.

Rebecca turned her head to see Reyes looking around for Dred, Dred had taken cover under the porch that the tyrannical mexican leader stood on. Rebecca growled and took out a throwing knife, aiming at Reyes's head. The irish girl launched the knife right towards him, only for Reyes to dodge at the last second, the knife bouncing off the concrete wall. Rebecca growled in anger, seeing that her attack had missed the target. More and more people started to fill up the grounds of the fortress, members going inside of buildings and towers as they tried to fight against the soldiers. It was all turning into a bloody mess, Reyes would not see defeat yet.

The mexican tyrant quickly ran back inside of his watchtower, yanking the door shut, and locking it too. He went to barricade the door by placing the desk up against it, the one with Tonya chained to it. Dred had heard the door slam shut, and Rebecca had seen it.

A mexican soldier charged at Rebecca, the soldier had a bayonet attached to the end of the gun to deal some extra damage. The irish girl seen him coming at just the right time to slide underneath his legs and come out from behind him, Rebecca fired right into the back of the head with her revolver, taking the man out. Rebecca was covered by two members of the Marston Gang as he picked up the gun with the bayonet. She heard rapid fire, knowing it was the gatling gun, it had been manned by another mexican soldier. Rebecca dove into a crawling position as soon as the two members were shot down, she then did a combat roll going forwards to dodge the machine gun fire. She ended up behind another crate, in which was full of weaponry. Dred sat down against the crate he stood against to tend to the wound on his right arm.

Suddenly, all of the mexican soldiers around the gatling gun collapsed. A mexican soldier turned around to see who it was that caused all their deaths, he seen Jack Marston charging in through the front. In a panic, the soldier went to man the gatling gun, only to get stabbed right through the back by Rebecca's bayonet.

"I want somebody to shut the gates of the fort, and lock them. Do not allow reinforcements to get inside!" Jack shouted as he fired a round into the skull of a soldier that approached him, he then noticed his revolver get shot out of his hands. The gunslinger looked up to see Reyes with a carcano rifle in his hands, Reyes had shot the cattleman revolver out of Jack's hand.

Jack gasped as he seen Reyes, he didn't have time to dodge what was coming. That was until he seen Reyes lose grip of the rifle, dropping down over the watchtower and into the fort grounds. Jack looked over at Rebecca, she had used her deadeye ability to shoot the rifle out of the arms of the tyrannical mexican leader.

Jack and Rebecca smiled at each other before hearing glass shatter, a dead body of a mexican soldier went flying out. Bill had entered a building and seemed to be doing some damage, Dred decided that it was time to move.

"Dred, Reyes has your woman in the watchtower. The door is closed, Rebecca will back you up and defend you!" Jack shouted, Dred nodded his head and quickly ran up the stairs, being followed by Rebecca.

Dred went to open the door but he found it to be locked, he started banging on the door, he could hear the screams of Tonya from inside, the panicked screams and cries for help.

"I'm trying Tonya, I'll get you out of there soon enough!" Dred shouted, happy to hear that Tonya was still alive, but he knew that there was still work to be done.

Meanwhile, from within the long building, Bill was making his way down the hall, shooting down any mexican soldier that charged at him. As the prize fighter was about to make his way out of the door, a hard right hand slammed down onto his gun, making him drop it.

Bill growled but then felt the butt of a rifle slam right into his head, making him collapse to the floor, not knocked out, yet his vision was spinning out of control. The mexican soldier aimed down at him, but Bill was quick, and kicked the man in the genitals. The mexican soldier fired, but it was away from Bill as he grasped his balls, stumbling to a large doorway. Another cannon was still able to be manned, as a mexican soldier approached it.

The man attacking Bill was the secondary right hand man of Reyes, after Caesar. However, Caesar had been killed by Dred, leaving Alejandro Garcia to take up position.

Bill grabbed onto the wall, helping himself up as a few Marston Gang members came in to defend him from more mexican soldiers entering through another door. Bill and Alejandro were to set to fight each other without their guns, and justs fists.

Bill jumped on top of Alejandro and started to punch the mexican elite in the skull three times before he was kicked off and away. The mexican soldier in which was manning another cannon not too far away turned it to aim at the two fighting men.

Bill noticed the cannon about to launch, and he activated his deadeye ability, it was not as great as the other elites but it would help for the situation.

Bill jumped onto Alejandro right when the cannonball launched out of the large weapon, once the two were well out of the way, Bill stopped using deadeye. The prize fighter was then thrown off of his opponent, Bill rolled over to the other side of the room.

A large hole had been put into the wall by the cannonball, leaving a wide open space for a massive drop all the way down the large rock in which the fort was situated on.

Alejandro had picked up his revolver, shooting at Bill but missing, his gun was then out of bullets after he fired it off.

"This gun is useless!" The mexican elite shouted as he threw it at Bill in an attempt to knock him out, it didn't work.

Bill used the wall to pull himself up, looking over at Alejandro.

"I'm not useless." Bill growled as he had made it to his feet once again, Alejandro looked at Bill with a face of hatred.

"You think you can come in this place and take what you want? I'm not going to allow it." The secondary right hand man of Reyes growled at the prize fighter, Bill rolled his eyes.

"I am the undefeated champion, I can walk anywhere I want."

Alejandro let out an angry growl, charging at Bill Pierce. Alejandro ran blindly into a hard punch to the gut and then a hammer of a blow to the jaw, the mexican general stumbled back towards the wall.

"Close the fucking gates, more are coming, men in black are coming!" A mexican soldier shouted, getting the attention of a good few members of the Marston Gang.

"It's the BlackJacks, they followed us here somehow!" Jack cried, if the BlackJacks made it inside of the fort, it would be an all out war.

Bill Pierce had no time to focus on the BlackJacks that was making their way towards the fort, he made his way towards Alejandro and went to give him a knockout blow to the temple of his head. Alejandro dodged and the prize fighter's fist planted right into the wall, he growled in pain, and Alejandro attempted to throw him out of the hole in the wall. Bill placed his foot down like an anchor, and used his other arm to slam Alejandro's skull into the wall. The mexican general was dazed from his head being rammed into the wall.

Bill took the opportunity, then throwing Alejandro through the large hole, the mexican general could be heard screaming loudly as he fell several hundreds of feet down from the cliff. Bill smirked, turning around.

Meanwhile, outside of the long building, tons of bloodshed was still going on as people scrambled to close the gates before the BlackJacks could enter the fortress.

"We haven't even got a fucking chance to stay in this fort, this was some huge set up!" Bill screamed in rage as a mexican soldier rushed at him, the soldier ran right into an uppercut from the prize fighter.

Rebecca covered Dred as he hacked away at the wooden door with an axe, bit by bit, the door fell away. Tonya was seen crying in tears of joy as she seen Dred slowly breaking through the door, her happiness couldn't be contained.

Eventually Dred busted through the door, unlocking it from the other side, Reyes was still firing from the watchtower. Rebecca had downed a few people in which was going for Dred, bravely defending the african american general of the Marston Gang.

"Tonya, I have worried so much about you. I am here now, I am right here with you." Dred said smoothly as he held the crying woman in his arms, letting her cry into his shoulder.

"If this was to be a dream, I would want to never wake up." Tonya sobbed happily, Dred smiled as he stroked her smooth dark hair.

"No Tonya, you are the stuff of my greatest dreams. Your beauty is something out of this world, I have been blessed to have you in my life." Dred said in response, Rebecca was watching this whole thing as she stood in the room.

"Alright, we can screw later, we've got some ass kicking to do!" Rebecca shouted as she took cover behind the banister.

"Right." Dred said, then he looked at Tonya with a serious face. "Where's that fool, Reyes?"

Tonya pointed at the ladder and then the man knew where the tyrannical ruler of Mexico was, he marched towards the ladder. A few of the Marston Gang members kept their eyes glued on Reyes, this would keep the mexican leader distracted as Dred snuck up the ladder towards him.

A Marston Gang member was manning the cannon at the front, another was manning the gatling gun. Reyes aimed at the one manning the cannon when he felt a blow strike him right in the small of his back, he yelped out in pain, dropping the gun down from the watchtower.

Reyes spun around to see an angry Dred standing before him with his fists balled up angrily, he smirked only to get hit right in the mouth. The mexican leader collapsed into onto the floor on top of the watchtower.

"What did you do to my beautiful girl?" Dred asked in a fit of anger, trying not to beat the man to death.

Reyes laughed, and he laughed hysterically at Dred before answering with a cold and vicious answer.

"I fucked her, I fucked her for days, I ate her alive for weeks on end. A few other soldiers got their fill of her too. When she didn't want to comply with our sexual desires, we beat her into submission, we forced her to obey. That explains why her clothes are torn and bloody, if you see the large lump on her gut many months in the future, just know that it isn't your child." Reyes coldly said with an evil smirk on his face, this was the last straw for Dred as he went to stomp the skull of the mexican leader into oblivion, but his boot was caught.

"You savage sons of bitches!" Dred shouted in rage, trying to force his boot out of the grasp of Reyes, but Reyes held on tightly.

Dred was then falling down the watchtower, bumping into the ladder before crashing through the desk. He let out a loud groan of pain, Rebecca turned to see what was going on. The irish girl seen the body of Dred was laying in the middle of a broken table with Tonya screaming in terror.

Reyes looked down over the watchtower, seeing Rebecca looking at Dred from the outside with a look of shock on her face. The mexican leader took a tomahawk, and threw it down at her head..

"Look out, Rebecca!" Jack screamed, Rebecca allowed herself to fall to the side only to get the blade of the tomahawk slicing down her arm. The irish girl screamed loudly in pain, collapsing to the deck in agony.

The gates had been closed, not allowing the BlackJacks to enter the fortress. Mexican soldiers and members of the Marston Gang alike heard the shots of the BlackJack's guns beating into the large wooden gates, doing little damage to them. Shots were ringing out from every direction, the rapid fire rate of the gatling gun was heard as it tore through people. People could hear the loud explosive rounds of the cannons going off.

Bodies were dropping second by second, the stench of blood and the dying begun to stink up the fortress grounds. Though it wasn't as explosive as many minutes ago, the shere tone of the violence began to subside as the numbers of both sides began to shrink.

Reyes had made it to the bottom of the ladder to see Dred shakily getting back to his feet, he had been hurt badly by the fall, almost critically.

"Killing me isn't going to make the past go away, you and your whore of a woman shall die under the heel of my power." Reyes growled, taking out a knife, and slowly making his way towards Dred. As Reyes was about to stand over the fallen african american general of the Marston Gang, he felt a cold yet strong ache pulse through his head.

Reyes collapsed into the wall, looking up to see Tonya had been free of her chains, she had been detached from the desk since it had been broken in half.

"If you hurt my man, I'm gonna tear you apart!" Tonya screamed, Dred made a half smile since he was still in great pain, but now he seen the fire in Tonya's eyes as she charged at Reyes bravely.

Reyes struck at Tonya with the knife, but the young african american woman jumped to the side, quickly spinning behind of the mexican tyrant. Tonya wrapped the chain that she was once bound in, around Reyes's throat from behind him. The chain wasn't a large and heavy chain, it was strong enough to hold Tonya to the desk if she tried to run.

Reyes started to thrash around, trying to throw Tonya off of him. Dred groaned and reached for his cattleman revolver in which was on the ground a few feet away from him. Reyes slowly turned around to face the wall, Tonya then hopped on the tyrant's back, now choking him with the chain. Reyes gagged and tried to throw his attacker off of him, Tonya used her legs to kick off the wall, making the two move away from the wall. Tonya wrapped her legs around his torso, hooking her ankles to make sure she doesn't fall off of him, all while choking Reyes with the chain.

Reyes then decided to fall backwards on purpose, to crush Tonya under him. It worked and the pressure on his throat was loosened enough for him to breathe, he slowly started to remove the chain from off of his throat.

Tonya took in a deep breath and tugged back on the chain, again choking Reyes. The mexican tyrant gagged out loudly as Dred was now within range of his gun, he decided to throw his knife at Dred's hand. The knife penetrated the flesh, and stuck through the other side of his hand, blood covered the whole blade of the knife. Dred screamed, the loudest he has ever screamed in his life, loud enough for Jack to hear what was going on.

Reyes then jerked his arm back, his thumb poking into Tonya's eye, making her scream and release him, forcing her to unwrap her legs from his torso. Reyes rolled away from Tonya, then crawling towards Dred, the african american man was focused on his punctured hand.

Reyes ripped the knife out of Dred's hand, through the hole, making a massive gaping wound in his hand. Dred screamed once again in agony, leaving both Tonya and her boyfriend on the ground in pain as Reyes left the watchtower.

Reyes seen a grounded Rebecca, a flap of flesh was hanging off of her arm, flapping in the wind. The tomahawk had literally scraped away skin. She had remained lying in the same spot, Jack rushed towards the stairs and the watchtower. Reyes then launched his knife at Jack, it went right into the front of his shoulder, Jack howled out in pain and stumbled forward into a knee strike from Reyes. Bill was taking cover in the long building, fighting mexican soldiers, and shooting some down, also throwing some out of the large hole to their doom far below.

Bill had seen all of the generals get taken down by Reyes, he knew it was going to happen. Dred had a gaping hole in his hand, Tonya was in great pain but she was getting up now. Jack had a knife go right into his shoulder, Rebecca had a huge flap of bloody flesh hanging off of her arm. Bill, and Tonya were the only ones standing now.

"Dammit Jack, dammit!" Bill screamed, he noticed that the numbers of the mexican soldiers were extremely low now. Dead bodies of the Marston Gang, and mexican soldiers was littering the fort grounds. Blood was splattered all over the walls, some body parts had been severed off by the gatling gun. There was disembodied heads, laying in random areas, their eyes wide open, which gave a haunting look to Bill.

It all had been just as Bill thought it would be, a total slaughterhouse just as Sisika was. Bill wanted to leave the fort, but the BlackJacks were still trying to get in by firing rapidly at the gates.

Reyes stood over Jack now, aiming his two revolvers down at his head. He stole one from the downed Dred, the mexican tyrant smirked.

"All of your friends taken down, your gang is in nothing but shambles now. The men of your gang won't be coming home to their women."

Jack, in response to what Reyes just said, spat up at his face. Once Reyes went to do something, he was slammed into the wall by gatling gun fire. Reyes dropped both revolvers, and leaned against the wall in agony.

"Well damn.." Reyes moaned in pain, his voice almost sounding disembodied from all of the bullets that went into his body at one time. He looked to see who was manning the gatling gun, none other than Bill Pierce.

"Well done amigo, well done." Reyes groaned just as he felt a kick to the side of his face, it was Tonya. The tyrant stumbled down the stairs and out into the yard of the fortress, most of the mexican soldiers decided to retreat after seeing Reyes be critically wounded by the gatling gun.

"I'll close the side entrance, you can take care of Reyes." Bill said to Tonya as he approached the gates of the side entrance. The BlackJacks hadn't found it yet, all of them were still focused on the front entrance.

Reyes was slowly crawling away, making his way towards the front entrance to let the BlackJacks in.

"If my men don't kill you all, then these people can." Reyes groaned as Tonya slowly approached him from behind, he could see her shadow approaching him from the moonlight.

"You sick bastard, you savagely rule over your people, and you treat women with disrespect, you treat everyone like dogs!" Tonya screamed in anger, Jack had gotten up, removing the knife from his shoulder.

Jack approached the gatling gun, the remaining members of the Marston Gang men and brave women searched for more weapons to fend off the BlackJacks.

"Mr. Gonzalez, and Miss Gonzalez, take these mexican prisoners, and dispose of the dead bodies. There is a hole in that wall, apparently it leads to a long drop down. We need this place clean before the next wave of people that come after us." Jack ordered, the liberated prisoners and the Gonzalez's went right to work.

Jack handed the knife over to Tonya as Reyes was a few feet away from the gates, his hand reaching out for the large doors. Tonya threw the knife at the hand of Reyes, it broke through his hand just as it did to Dred. Reyes screamed in agony just as Dred did, he clutched his wounded hand with the blade of the knife poking through the palm of his hand.

Tonya kicked Reyes in the ribs, forcing him to roll over. Reyes groaned loudly as he was rolled over to his back, Tonya placed the heel of her foot down upon his throat, and copied what Reyes had said earlier.

"You and your tyranny shall die under the heel of my foot." Tonya said with a devious smirk on her face as she forced her foot down on the throat of Reyes, the mexican tyrant torn the knife out of his hand, making an attempt to throw it up at Tonya while she relished in the moment. Jack shot it away using his deadeye ability.

Tonya took a step back from Reyes, removing her foot from his throat. The mexican tyrant slowly backed against the front gate of the fort. He began to reach up for the lock, to allow the BlackJacks in. Jack used the gatling gun to completely sever the hand of Reyes, leaving only a bloody nub and bone sticking where his hand once was.

Reyes screamed in agony ever more, suffering now. He dug his feet into the dusty ground, making himself slowly get up. He used his other arm to reach for the lock, but then his entire left arm was severed from his body.

Reyes felt every bullet of the gatling gun pierce through his skin and eventually taking off his arm, he felt great pain and then nothing since there wasn't an arm their to feel any pain, he screamed in shock and terror of his arm and hand being severed from his body.

He then felt bullets go into his body from the shots of the BlackJack members on the other side of the door, he was spun around, and then bullets dug into his back. Reyes had become a human blood sprinkler, with blood seeping out of every hole from his body, staining his clothes and body. He collapsed to his knees before Jack Marston, and Tonya.

"Civilization will catch up to you fools, and someday. Your gang will come to an end, my men have slain so many members of your gang. And we are just soldiers holed up in a fort, this isn't the whole army even. Imagine if a whole army descended upon you all, you wouldn't stand a chance.." Reyes groaned, his speech being shaky from the pain he was going through.

"Let an army come upon us, and we will become an army too. We lost many members at Sisika, and we grew large again. We have lost even more here, but we will grow large ever more. This is just the beginning stages of my gang, Reyes. We haven't even robbed a bank yet, we've just been out saving people's asses and killing the fools that deserve to die. One of the fools that deserve to be among the dead..Is you." Jack responded, nodding his head towards Tonya.

Tonya knocked out Reyes by slinging the chain at full force, hitting him on the head with it. She tied his ankles together, and dragged him over to the hole in the wall at the long building. Jack remained focused on the front doors, prepared for the BlackJacks to make their entrance.

Soon, a six by six inch hole was carved from the bullets that the BlackJacks were firing, it was enough for a person to reach their arm through. A BlackJack member went to unlock the gates, but Jack fired at the gate with the gatling gun.

"I don't know how many men stand behind those gates, but we need to send them away. We cannot lose any more members of this gang, or else we will be in trouble." Jack said loudly, getting the remaining members to come beside of him.

There was only ten members remaining, along with the generals of the Marston Gang. They was possibly facing the entire BlackJack gang, but they truly didn't know.

"You all have sticks of dynamite that I brought back from the store, I want all of you to throw them over that gate. Make sure they flee!"

The ten members all at once, launched several sticks of dynamite over the gates, Jack opened fire upon the gates if the explosive sticks were to blow up the gates.

"Die!" Jack cried as he fired relentlessly, an incredibly loud explosion was heard on the other side of the gates, ringing the members ears, including Jacks ears. Jack didn't allow this to bother him, he continued to fire at the gates.

Mr. Gonzalez made a mad dash towards the cannon at the front, climbing the ladder in which would lead to the top of the building. As he manned the cannon, he noticed all of the BlackJacks running away from the fort.

"They're fleeing, Jack. I think it would be wise to head on back to Escarela, by going an opposite way." Mr. Gonzalez said with a look of seriousness on his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we all need to leave this fort. We've got Tonya back, but this day marks a heavy toll on this gang, we lost so many members. Now the BlackJacks greatly outnumber us in terms of gunmen and gun women. We need several more members, I cannot think of a place to get some though." Jack said, as Tonya helped up Dred, and as Bill helped up Rebecca.

"Let's move, before the BlackJacks come back. Mr. Gonzalez shall provide some helpful information in terms of gaining more members." Jack commanded, the crew heading out of the side entrance since the front entrance had been blown to pieces.

Alas, The Marston Gang has rescued Tonya from the clutches of the tyrannical Reyes and his army of maniacal mexican soldiers. It would be a slow recovery for this gang, but in due time, it would be back on its feet once again…


	21. Rebellion Rising

(Chapter 21: Rebellion Rising)

It had been a whole day since the siege on El Presidio, the damage had been done to the gang. Rebecca was riding in the back of a wagon, Dred was riding in the back of another wagon. The two were incredibly hurt, Mr. Gonzalez was tending to Dred while Ms. Gonzalez was tending to Rebecca. Bill was riding up front with Jack and now that the gang had fought their way through El Presidio, his thoughts finally went away.

"Jack, what do we do now? The BlackJacks have followed us into Mexico with ease, first the girl back at Fort Mercer, and now they attempted to break into El Presidio." Bill asked with a sound of concern but not acting vicious as he once was.

"We'll try to find more members for our gang, we need to get bigger if we want to try and even put up a fight against the BlackJacks." Jack said, Bill then remembered something that Mr. Gonzalez had said on the way to El Presidio.

"There is a ghost town, but it is the sight of a mexican rebel group. We can side with these men, and thus our numbers shall grow. It is called Tesoro Azul, it is far away from any town. It is the perfect hiding place for us, we can tend to our wounds." Bill explained, Jack looked over at Bill.

"Go get Mr. Gonzalez, he's been in Mexico longer than all of us combined. Have him lead the convoy to this location, after we set down, send the wagons and horses towards Escarela to pick up the women." Jack said as he gave the reins over to Bill, Jack hopped off of the leading wagon, then heading towards the back where Rebecca, and Dred was riding in. Jack landed on his horse, making the trip to the back of the line more easily.

"Mr. Gonzalez, lead us to a place called Tesoro Azul. If you don't mind, take control of the convoy." Jack commanded, Mr. Gonzalez proudly took control as he rode his horse up to the front. Jack would tend to Dred and sit in the back.

"Dred, how are we doing back here?" Jack asked, he watched as Dred slowly turned his head towards his leader.

"Not so good, I can't feel my hand. I've got some marks where I was shot back at El Presidio, Mr. Gonzalez has been doing a good job of tending to my wounds. In all of this suffering and hard times, I'm just glad that we got Tonya back." Dred said, his voice showing signs of weakness and pain, it wasn't as bad as it was way earlier though.

"We are going to make it through this, I can assure you that we will all be on our feet. As long as we keep getting more men and women in our gang, we will never fall. We will go from settlement to settlement, just gathering more and more members." Jack said in a calm tone of voice, wanting to tell Dred that everything is going to be okay.

As the day went on, the Marston Gang drew closer towards Tesoro Azul. Jack tending to Rebecca and Dred while Mr. Gonzalez led them towards their new destination. Eventually a sheet of darkness covered the land, it was night once again. Jack was sitting up at the back of the first wagon, shouting to talk with Mr. Gonzalez.

"Is there any other place around here that could be used as a camp?" Jack asked.

"There are only two other places that could house us all, both are in good places that the BlackJacks should never find us at. Or at least give us all time to recover, and plan some things out."

The Marston Gang eventually arrived at their destination, it wasn't so huge as Jack thought it to be, but the place would fit them as a perfect hiding spot.

The leader of the mexican rebels, stood at the gates of the abandoned town. The leader's name was Alonzo, he had been raising a rebellion from scratch ever since Reyes took the office. Alonzo had served with Reyes during the time of his rebellion, but when he seen that Reyes was a cruel leader, he betrayed the mexican tyrant, and was kicked out of El Presidio.

Alonzo's rebels were regular citizens, but these citizens had been trained to kill. Reyes almost crushed the entire rebellion when Alonzo's rebels failed to capture El Presidio, which sent them running to Tesoro Azul. The rebels had been hiding in this location for about a year as of when the Marston gang arrived.

Alonzo was shocked to see a large convoy coming his way, so he rightfully aimed at Mr. Gonzalez who sat in front of the wagon as Jack was in the back speaking to Rebecca.

"Which side do you serve, rebel or tyrant?" Alonzo demanded, not hesitating to place his finger on the trigger.

"I serve rebellion, but I come with some good news. This convoy is new members, so many new members to come by!" Mr. Gonzalez announced proudly, the convoy came to a halt behind his wagon.

"Excellent, are you a leader of this gang?"

"No, I am!" Bill announced, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to proclaim himself as leader as Jack was all the way in the back of the caravan.

"What's your name?" Alonzo asked.

"I am Bill Pierce, from Canada, and I've been leading this gang since the very beginning. The good news is, this rebellion could be no more. My gang has successfully raided El Presidio, and killed Reyes!"

Alonzo looked at Bill with unimpressed eyes, he then noticed a bag in Bill's arms.

"Where's your proof?" Alonzo asked.

Bill would reveal what was in the bag, it turned out to be the severed head of Reyes. Alonzo's eyes widened, a few rebels cheered at the sight of the severed head in Bill's arms.

"Well then, I guess you are welcome aboard the rebellion. I guess it is your rebellion now."

"It is indeed the Pierce's rebellion, but our numbers have dwindled ever since the siege of El Presidio. We have very few alive, and your rebels can be of excellent numbers."

The gang's convoy was welcomed inside of Tesoro Azul, everyone began to set up their tents outside of the old town. Bill Pierce would have a room within the fort while Jack Marston, the true leader of the gang, would sleep outside in a tent due to false identification and lies from Bill Pierce.

Jack was annoyed at first, but he eventually calmed down, and decided to place his tent beside of Rebecca's tent.

Rebecca was lying in her tent, just setting it up to rest, to let her injuries heal. Dred would remain in the back of a wagon, receiving constant treatment from the rebels medics.

"Rebecca, are you doing fine now?" Jack asked, feeling concerned for the one he loved.

"Yes, my injuries remain, but you being here for me makes the pain seemingly go away." The irish girl said weakly, but happily all the same.

"Rebecca, I'll always be there for you. No matter what, I am glad to hear that I make your pain go away, as you do to my pain." Jack responded with a smile on his face, this got Rebecca to roll over to her back and smile at him.

"Thanks Jackie, I appreciate the love." She said with a sweet smile on her face, Bill Pierce stood guard at the front of the fort, looking at the two partners. Jack and Rebecca were slowly but surely getting ever closer to falling in love with each other, Bill had loved the irish woman longer than Jack has, so it made him jealous.

Bill's heart sank once he saw the two talking, and smiling at each other, and thus he had memories of being at Doverhill once the gang was in it's beginning stages as nothing but a trio. He remembered how he was humiliated, and embarrassed by the two after being last in command of the gang, but then the prize fighter snickered before heading back inside.

Night had fallen, the entire gang was asleep. Bill was awoken from his slumber by something tapping his face, it was a mexican rebel who was waking him up. Jack hadn't revealed to the rebellion that he was the true leader.

"You can't be speaking on the job, Bill." The rebel said in the spanish language, the prize fighter couldn't understand the rebel.

"I'm sorry, but I don't speak your language." Bill responded as he sat up, getting his boots on, and heading out to the tent where the gang slept.

"Stay here, I'm going out to get some food for tomorrow morning."

Bill wasn't seen for the remainder of the night until the next morning, Bill had done the gang some good after bringing back some food. It was a small game, but it would be enough to feed a few people. The rest of the fort held some edible provisions for morning meal.

"You know, I'm the original leader of the gang. Bill is just full of shit." Jack said to Alonzo, the rebel leader nodded his head in understanding the truth, he eyed down Bill who was sitting down with two members of the Marston gang, both were named Caleb.

"So you're Caleb Jones, and the other is who I'll call… Darkie Caleb!" Bill said in a joking manner, the african american Caleb stood up, and got right in Bill's face with an angry stare in his eyes, making Bill slightly cower.

"Don't you ever call me that again." Caleb simply said as he walked away.

"You should be thankful big boy, I brought back all of this meat to feed your fat ass!" Bill shouted, causing Caleb to turn around, grab Bill by the arms, and then launch him with ease into a wall.

"And that is why he is fourth in command of my gang, he's a dumbass." Jack jokes, getting a laugh out of him and Alonzo before drinking some Kentucky bourbon.

Bill overheard the two high status gang members speaking trash about him, as if it wasn't something they always did. He slowly pulled himself up, looking at Jack from across the dusty path in the fort.

"You know, for all the trash talk, you hurt many elites at El Presidio. Dred has a damn hole in his hand, he could get infected, and then you have that irish girl, whom you love so much, you got her hurt. I would think about what you just said." Bill said in a calm tone, with a smile on his face.

Rebecca overheard the fact that Jack was in love with her, she smiled brightly and her eyes twinkled at this.

"They'll heal, we will all heal. Sweat dries, blood clots, and bones heal." Jack said in response, Bill was quick to throw in a quick add on to what the Marston Gang leader just said.

"And the trauma never goes away, the memories will forever exist until the bearer of those burdens pass away. You call me a dumbass, Jack. Yet if there was to be a mirror for me to look into, I wouldn't see me, I would see you."

Jack went to say something but Bill quickly interrupted him.

"How many more will you send to death? So many died at Sisika, so many died at El Presidio. While both were successful raids, our numbers dwindled. We are lucky to have this rebel group, because if this group wasn't found, we all would be picked off by the BlackJacks."

Jack started to believe Bill, he started to doubt his own leadership. Alonzo looked at Jack with a shocked expression on his face.

"What about the hard working women back at Escarela, the rest of our gang? Are you going to let them all die too? If you're a good leader, you'll send for them."

Jack nodded his head in agreement to his lowest ranking general. He couldn't believe that he was being bossed around by Bill Pierce.

"I'll go for them, but I'm not going to let you take over this gang. This is my legacy, not yours. My father had a past of legendary proportions, your father, and well.. Your family as a whole, they'll be known as almost starving to death in the cold harsh North."

This was enough to get Bill to knock out Jack with a single punch to the jaw, he walked away from Jack's slumped body. The prize fighter then looked at Alonzo, who looked angry at Bill for knocking out the leader.

"He tells you that he killed Reyes, but he didn't tell you that I had to save him. He wasn't even the one that sliced his head off, it was Tonya, a fucking damsel in distress killed the man who raped her over and over again. Reyes was killed by gunfire from other people, yet Jack takes all the glory because he's nothing but a Marston boy. Jack has told me that his parents told him to never become what he is today, but as you can see, little Jack didn't listen. Now you see what all has gone down, ever since he's started this gang up, he's gotten into more trouble that he asked for in the first place. Let him lay on the ground, and let's go get those women before the BlackJacks do." Bill explained, shifting Alonzo's favoring from Jack to the prize fighter with a single speech.

(Location: Las Hermanas)

As for the BlackJacks, they had taken control of yet another abandoned Mexican settlement. This settlement was known as Las Hermanas, the place was extremely beautiful, and it had a fancy courtyard just to offer one good thing about it. It's former populations were nuns, which would explain many church rooms and chapels at Las Hermanas.

The settlement would become abandoned in the year 1914, collecting dust until returning to use just one year later for a gang rival to the Marston Boys.

"Them Marstons have found themselves a great hiding spot, when I returned to El Presidio after being forced to retreat, they weren't there. We searched all over the region to find nothing, we found a place called Escarela, but it was full of women and only two men. One man had fine slicked back hair, had a good mustache too. The other was a mexican rebel by the name of Alonzo." Markus Van Der Linde explained to Douglas, telling him that finding the Marston Gang was a failure for now.

"Hold on, did you speak to this Alonzo fella?"

"Yes."

"What did he say to you?"

"He told me that he was the leader of a successful rebellion, there was a few notable members of this rebellion. They gained large amounts of numbers during the midnight hour. The notable members were a cowboy, a colored man, a beautiful irish girl, and the man with the mustache, none other than Bill Pierce."

Douglas smirked at this news, the Marston Gang had joined in on the rebellion. He just didn't know where they were located, this would be a disadvantage, now the Marston Gang had time to recover from injuries suffered at El Presidio.

"That's good news, now we just need to find out where they're located at. What did Bill say to you when you two met?"

Markus thought for a moment before answering, he remembered Bill Pierce mentioning something about a ghost town, but that was pretty much all the details he gave to the son of Dutch.

"He mentioned a ghost town, it was big enough to hold the rebels but not Marston and his mongrel horde. I overheard him speaking to Alonzo about an ability known as the Eagle Eye ability, something that an indian known as Charles Smith taught him while he was in Canada."

"What is Eagle Eye?" Douglas asked.

"Eagle Eye apparently is when you focus so much on tracks of animals, that you can see a clear path of where the supposed thing or human went. We're running in short supply of food at Las Hermanas, this is more than likely the best time to go and practice our skills."

"Sounds good, now get your rifle, we're going animal hunting, and practicing our eagle eyes."

The two generals of the BlackJacks headed off out into the desert of Mexico right outside of Las Hermanas, there wasn't loads of big game in Mexico, cougars were found in some areas but it was mostly small game such as rabbits and snakes, maybe coyotes.

(Tesoro Azul)

"I think our camp is a bit too small, if the BlackJacks see tents outside of the fort, they'll know it is us. So we need to move away from this location as soon as possible." Bill announced, Alonzo still favored the prize fighter as second in command of the massive rebel gang.

Jack was upset about Bill taking second in command when he started the gang himself, Bill was in fourth place in Jack's mind. The Marston boy didn't allow himself to get too angered by this situation, it would be a testament to Bill's leadership capability.

"I don't favor that arrogant fool to be second in command of this gang, you should be the leader." Rebecca said from within her lodging outside of the fort grounds, Jack was standing not too far away from the irish woman's tent.

"I don't either, he is a scumbag, but his ruling in second command over a gang of such large numbers, it is gonna be a testament to how good of a leader he truly is. He's got to prove himself that he isn't worthy of fourth place. He has done nothing for us so far."

"Didn't you say that once all of our goals are over with, and complete. That you're going to get the whole gang over to an island known as Tahiti?" Rebecca asked, trying to sound hopeful in her voice.

"I'm gonna try to." Jack said with a smile, looking back at Rebecca. The irish girl smiled back in happiness, yet her grin was faint as she still went through the pains of her wounds suffered from El Presidio. Jack then continued his speech.

"I'll try and get us all out of this cruel new America, we are all going to get out of this country alive. We need to get back on our feet first, we have rescued Tonya. So now we can focus on getting our first bank robbery or rob whatever items we find of use."

Rebecca snickered a bit before responding to what he said.

"I like how you don't resort to violence, we only take from the rich, and we don't kill any innocent people at all unless necessary. The world needs more men like you Jack, you're a great example of how a man should be, or how humankind should be."

Jack smiled, and approached Rebecca's tent, sitting down beside her since she was laying on her back outside.

"Thanks Rebecca, that means a whole lot… And I was meaning to tell you this weeks before we got ourselves thrown into this big mess, but you mean a lot to me just as much as I appreciate respect."

Rebecca's eyes lit up once she heard Jack said those words to her, her weak smile due to her injuries, the weak smile turned into a big one. She gasped, not knowing that Jack was in love with her, or at least had a crush on her. Her tan colored face flushed red, not knowing how to react to this situation.

"Jackie, you know that if it wasn't for the BlackJacks back at Saint Denis, how they shot up the fighting pit, that I would have probably killed you. How could you like a person that was set up to kill you?"

Jack laughed silently for a second before answering.

"Because, Rebecca, I seen through those eyes of yours. I knew back at Saint Denis a month and a few weeks ago, that you were different on the inside. You were an innocent and kind hearted irish woman, with a fighting spirit and fire in her heart, and that fighting spirit was bonded to the wrong hands. That fighting spirit turned you into a fighter, and in some cases, maybe a killer."

Rebecca's smile started to quiver, and she felt her eyes started to water up. She was enjoying, and appreciating the love she was receiving. To her, Jack was an incredible and kind man among all of the bad things he had done, he had turned into something his parents and Van Der Linde Gang uncles and aunts didn't want him to be.

"And I can see that you're fighting for the greater good, something that regular people in America these days find it hard to fight for."

"We shall fight it together, I know those people that attacked Bill's home were former fighters of that place in Saint Denis, those too, were people robbed of their happiness, robbed of their freedom, and robbed from their own lives just for profit for a greedy man known as Rodger Cornwall. Those who perished in the Saint Denis Fighting Pits, or those whose lives were changed for the worse, they will all be remembered, and the dead shall watch us get revenge for them. We are not alone."

Meanwhile, back inside of the fort. Bill and Alonzo were making arrangements for traveling towards a new location. On a table, laid a large map of Mexico and some parts of New Austin.

"Our current location is not on the map, but eventually the BlackJacks will find us. I knew that Markus Van Der Linde overheard me speaking about Eagle Eye, he was too quiet to not be listening. I know that they will be practicing that skill until they use it to come and find us." Bill explained, pointing towards their location on the map, in the same geographical location of where Tesoro Azul was once on the map.

"You know how many horse tracks come and go along the way here, we aren't the only ones in Mexico." Alonzo responded, answering Bill's predictions.

"Yes, they will be confused for other tracks with Eagle Eye, but the BlackJacks are a massive gang. Damn near a small army, and if bounty hunters join their gang, it is only going to get bigger. Their leaders are smart, they will send a huge amount of men to cover large amounts of surface area to try and find us. Eventually they will, so it is our best strategy if we move now before they have time to reach us." Bill responded, answering Alonzo's uneasy feelings about moving away from Tesoro Azul so soon.

"Yes, but what if they send out gunmen and gun women after us while the leaders practice the Eagle Eye skill?"

Bill laughed at Alonzo's response to what he had just said.

"We hold the advantage, it comes down to who wants freedom from cruel rule more. That is clearly us."

Jack then entered the room, he had overheard their conversation from the outside of the building as he approached it, he saw many other rebels doing their own thing throughout the fort as he approached the building with Bill and Alonzo within it.

"You're right Bill, you sound brave, and not afraid of loss. Explain to me why you were afraid of going after Tonya, you dreaded our gang raiding El Presidio. You seem to be different no-" Jack was interrupted by Bill before he could finish talking.

"Raiding El Presidio was a ballsy move, we were lucky it even paid off. Most of our generals are injured, and I had to save your ass. Our entire gang was damn near destroyed, a majority of our gunmen and gun women are now these rebels. Now that I'm in charge of the gang, I'll be making smarter decisions rather than charging into a military fort guns blazing."

Jack laughed, he found that getting outsmarted by a supposed fourth in place general to be ridiculous.

"You had to save my ass, that's gonna be why you always say that you're better than me in terms of leadership. Are you going to be Billy Badass, or are you going to be smart and help possible strong generals. Have you seen the fire in Tonya's eyes once she seen Dred down and out of the fight, I told you this whole time that she had something within her. Hell, she was the one who sliced off Reyes's head anyway. No one in the gang expected a woman so innocent and afraid, to do such things."

Alonzo looked at the two generals as they verbally argued and fought, so many people against each other in the gang. He couldn't believe that two of the best generals of the Marston Gang, now a rebel alliance, were bickering amongst each other.

"Form an alliance, do not fight one another. We all join together against a common enemy."

Jack and Bill both looked at Alonzo for a second.

"The enemy you were fighting is dead, now the rebels are among the Marston Gang. We go against society, we rob banks, we're going to get to a tropical island at some point in the future, I am Jack Marston, the true leader of this gang!"

Bill turned his head towards Jack again, now looking angry. Jack looked back at Bill, staring him in the eyes. Alonzo quickly whipped out dual revolvers, aiming at both their heads.

"I can end this right now, we can stop our acts, and we can head for wherever this island is right now." Alonzo growled.

"No, it ends when I kill the man responsible for enforcing the FBI in all of this entire state, or back in America should I say. Nate Johns is going to pay for bringing down the law upon West Elizabeth, but we need money before we can make our way towards California."

Alonzo snickered, then lowering the revolvers.

"California? You do know where we are. We are in an entirely different country, welcome to Mexico! If we go back up to the states, it would take even longer if we move now."

"That's why we're going to head back into New Austin, tomorrow morning. No questions asked, I am dog tired!"

Alonzo was quick to interrupt Jack as he made his way out of the fortress gates.

"Jack, I'm the leader of the rebellion. We've been fighting a greater threat for almost five years, we haven't even received newspapers of your supposed gang yet, my rebels are fighting the military, you and your gang are fighting police? Tell me who is doing more great at their job being a leader here!"

Jack groaned, then turning around to face Alonzo one more time.

"Alonzo, I killed Reyes, you didn't. You had five years, we came in here, as soon as we did, we killed him. You spent five years for nothing, now tell me who is better.."

(Somewhere in Mexico..)

A gun blasted off, sending a large bird flying away from a tree branch. The shell of the shotgun had missed the target, penetrating through an old and rotten, wooden plank.

"Shit fire!" Douglas shouted, seeing that he missed the intended target. Markus laughed as he plucked feathers from a bird he had managed to capture.

"I wouldn't waste your time with wooden planks, actually hit something for once."

Douglas turned towards Markus and growled before breaking out into fits of sarcastic laughter.

"You know, you can get removed from my gang if you keep up the smart ass attitude."

Markus laughed and then quickly skinned the bird he had managed to kill with his deadeye ability.

"You see, I'm in my own gang helping you out. A gang of only a few compared to an army sized gang, we've done you wonders so far."

"Yeah, you sure have done me wonders. We wiped out the entire town of Armadillo fairly quickly, if we can do it that fast, why the Hell isn't the Marston Gang wiped out yet?"

Markus sat on a large rock, then he began to smoke a cigar.

"The Marston Gang isn't erased from this world as of yet, because they are smarter than you take them for. That gang has been avoiding us, they forced us away from El Presidio, they managed to outsmart us on a few times already. We've only gotten really close to destroying the gang one time, that was the Sisika arrest of Jack Marston, but look how that turned out."

Douglas sighed, and used Eagle Eye to track animal footprints along the ground. These footprints seemed to belong to a small animal, Markus followed him as he made his way down the track path.

"They won't be escaping us the next time we meet, their general members of the gang are all hurt. Some were critically wounded according to the conversations I heard from Bill Pierce back at Escarela. There seems to be a rivalry between Bill Pierce, and Jack Marston, that only gives us another advantage." Markus explained to Douglas.

Though the BlackJacks were very much better than the Marston Gang in terms of strength, the Marston Boys outsmarted their rivals with better strategies and tactics. Douglas had brains, but Jack Marston's were bigger.


	22. Casa Madaruga

(Chapter 22: Casa Madaruga)

It was in the late night hours now, the only ones up were Jack Marston, Bill Pierce, and Alonzo. They had been planning their next moves for a good few hours as of now, into the night while the rest of the gang slept. Many of the women were grieving over their lost men from El Presidio, almost the entire unit of women was left as a widow..

Bill Pierce had a large map of the southernmost part of the United States, where the Marston Gang had originally came from. Jack had suggested many places, but all were declined, he now had another one. One where there was absolutely no civilization.

"I remember fighting Nicholas Lanza of the BlackJacks back in Annesburg, I remembered going beyond the hills. I was actually outside of the map, either in a completely different state, or an area untouched by civilization. There was a large patch of land in the shape similar to what a child would draw for a star, there was a sandy beach, but a short one. There was also a river to cross in order to get to the other side, though I don't think it to be very deep." Jack explained, having a memory of the location suddenly pop into his mind.

"We need to settle in a place before we continue heading all the way back up, it would take us weeks to get there due to how tired we all are. I suggest we pick another spot in Mexico, a place where no BlackJacks can find us." Bill said in response, not wanting to travel all the way back up towards Annesburg from Mexico.

"Fine, Alonzo, do you know of any places that we can go to?" Jack looked towards Alonzo, since he was in Mexico, and Alonzo had been the leader of a rebellion for the past five years, he assumed that he would know of a place to house the Marston Gang for now.

"Yes, Casa Madrugada, it is a ways away, but it isn't extremely far. I suggest we place our encampment there, it stands in a large wall with a big gate, behind the small settlement is a large plateau, that shall protect our backs from attacks. However, if we aren't smart about this, it can be easily taken over."

Bill sighed and wiped a hand through his slicked back, black hair. The words that shook him were that the settlement could easily be taken from them.

"Why the Hell would we choose a place that we can lose so easily, that is a stupid move!"

Jack looked over at the now anxious Bill, he was no longer showing signs of bravery after Jack took his place as leader in the gang with authority.

"Those big rocky plateaus from behind us, all we have to do is guard the front, which is easy. It is easy because we can see everything coming at us from miles away, nothing but large desert in the front of the settlement." Alonzo explained.

"Yes, but it is small as you had said moments ago, if it can't hold us all like the other settlements and forts could, why camp at a small location? How are we supposed to take care of the ones that can't fight. The women? Ones that have children that shall not even see their fathers, because of our siege of El Presidio."

There was a moment of silence, the three men looked at each other with growing concern on their faces. Jack wanted answers, Bill wanted to camp at a different location, and Alonzo felt that this would be a smart move.

"I'm putting my trust in you Alonzo, you've been a rebellious leader for the past five years. With growing law enforcement and civilization upon our backs, I think it may turn out better than we once thought it to be." Jack answered, Bill looked at Jack with an expression of disbelief.

"All of the women Jack, imagine if what happened to us at El Presidio, happens to us at this settlement. All of those people laying in their tents just outside of the walls, when the BlackJacks storm our asses, killing them all just as they had savagely murdered that innocent child. You aren't smart Jack, you're an idiot."

(Las Hermanas)

Back at the BlackJacks' location, Douglas Mulligan was woken up by a strange feeling that he was being watched. He left his area at the large settlement, and felt a strange sense growing stronger as he approached one of the few churches. He raised an eyebrow as he approached the door, and slowly withdrew his revolver. He slowly opened them, and entered, at the front of the room where a podium stood, and a large cross hung on the wall behind it, was a man in a nice suit. This strange man wore a nice suit, tophat, and a funny curling mustache was on his face.

"Hello fella, do I know you? You don't look familiar." Douglas asked as he approached the man, the stranger had his back turned, and he wasn't speaking at all.

"Fella, did you hear me?"

Douglas again, received no answer from the strange man. Instead of speaking, the stranger turned around slowly to see the leader of the massive BlackJack gang standing before him.

"Hello Douglas, Douglas Mulligan." The man said, he had a charming and soothing voice. One that would calm almost any mad person, Douglas was taken aback, he was curious to how this strange man knew his name.

"You know me?"

The man nodded his head slowly, he didn't smile or frown, he just had a blank stare on his face, sometimes it turned into a thousand yard stare, like he was seeing for miles. Douglas was baffled on how this stranger knew his name.

"What's your name? Partner."

The man chuckled before giving an honest answer.

"Oh, I don't have one, but I know you. I know you from Kansas, when the whole BlackJack movement began. I know you as you traveled through the Grizzlies into West Elizabeth, I know many men, and many women."

Douglas now stood right next to the man, even though the outlaw had a belt full of bullets and a gun in his hand, the man didn't seem scared at all. The stranger seemed like he didn't even care, he had some balls for sure.

"If you know me so well, who was the leader before me?"

The man slowly turned to face Douglas with the thousand yard stare in his eyes, Douglas felt slightly nervous, yet he didn't know why.

"Old man Jonas, great man. His voice is as loud and proud as a colored preacher, he was a great leader too. Shame that he died, he is proud of how far you've come, he wishes to see you again."

Douglas was incredibly shocked, his jaw dropped for a moment, his heart jumped into his throat when the stranger that he never even met before, just answer so quickly and truthfully.

"Well… You're right, I miss the man a whole lot more than you think. I owe everything to him, but it is of unfortunate events that he won't be seeing me soon."

The strange man shook his head when he heard Douglas answer him, little did Douglas know that he would be seeing old man Jonas soon.

"No, you'll be meeting him again very soon. Sooner than you think, my friend."

Douglas growled, and raised his revolver up to the stranger's head. The man didn't seem to care, he didn't even react to this. This was shocking to the BlackJack leader, he fired but something happened that Douglas would never expect, at a point blank range shot, the bullet did nothing to the strange man. A shot to the head a point blank, it didn't even phase him a bit.

The man smirked, turning to face Douglas. His face was shrunken, his cheekbones were extremely visible, looking like a human skull with eyes and flesh still remaining.

"See you around, Douglas Mulligan."

The torch that was keeping the interior of the church lit up, suddenly blew out, leaving Douglas in total darkness for a second, then the flame lit itself back up. Once light was restored, the strange man had vanished into thin air.

This encounter shook the leader to his very core, looking like a living corpse at the end of their encounter, and surviving a point blank shot to the skull. Douglas couldn't guess how this man could have survived, he didn't even know if he was of mankind or not. Nothing survives a point blank round to the skull and lives, not a human at that matter.

"I won't be seeing Old Man Jonas again soon, no person can predict my death. If anyone is dying soon, it is Jack Marston. He's dying, he's dying soon.." Douglas said to himself as he sat alone in the church, his voice sounding like he was going insane.

(The next evening)

After many hours of travel, the Marston Gang had finally made it to Casa Madrugada. It looked as it was described, it was larger than Bill had previously anticipated, but it wasn't enough to hold everyone. The gang was growing in numbers, their camps needed to be larger. Soon they would need a small town to fit them all, just as Thieves Landing had fit the BlackJacks once upon a time.

Jack looked up at the rock plateau that stood over the settlement, it was perfect for protecting the gang from behind. There seemed to be a steep hill on the rocks, yet it could be climbed. There was a way you could actually reach the top of the rock plateau, which served as a perfect sniping spot, a natural watchtower of sorts. He smirked at the sight, he had confidence in this spot. There was no cannons nor gatling guns, but his gang had more than enough gunmen, and few of the women were trained with using a gun.

Bill approached Jack, as the leader of the Marston Gang began to set up a lodging for others outside of the walls of the settlement.

"I recalled some BlackJacks spying upon us from afar, you were lucky we had some binoculars. I would start to raise guard, we can be attacked at any given moment if they give chase to us."

Jack stood up and looked far out into the desert with some binoculars that Bill handed him, he didn't see any men in dark clothing. After a few more seconds of looking, the gunslinger put down the binoculars and then looked at Bill with a confused expression.

"I didn't see any BlackJacks.. Are you sure that you seen them, or have you been hallucinating from our constant trips in this hot environment?" Jack asked.

Bill nodded his head, he did remember seeing all but one BlackJack member standing in the desert. He felt anxious again, he had his guard while Jack had his lowered all the way to the ground.

"I have not been hallucinating, keep your guard at an all time low, and see ourselves driven away from camp almost as soon as we set the damn thing up."

Jack sighed once he heard Bill speak those words in response, he had enough of Bill's constant doubts.

"I'm getting tired of you doubting me Bill, you doubted that we would get Tonya back, and we did get he-" Jack couldn't finish his sentence when Bill interrupted him rudely.

"We did get Tonya back, yes, I'm happy for all of us that we did, and I am happy that she shown a fire within her as you said she did. We saved her at the cost of almost our entire gang, we're lucky that we found the Mexican rebels, or else we would be even more fucked than we already are right now."

"Bill if you don't like the way things are going for this gang, if you question everything I do, everything this gang does, how about you leave us. I can kick you out of the gang if you want me to."

"No! Hell no, this gang is the only place I can stay for now. I don't have enough money to buy myself a house, speaking of money, we haven't even robbed a single bank yet. We've been out on a wild goose chase all across Mexico."

"If you want to stay, then please, shut your damn mouth, and quit doubting us all." Jack growled, ending the argument, Rebecca approached from behind.

"Ugh, what's Bills problem?" The irish woman said in disgust, she didn't like Bill at all, she wanted him to leave the gang entirely so she wouldn't have to hear his mouth.

"He's got diarrhea of the mouth, and constipation of his ideas, he doubts us when we are all doing well."

Rebecca snickered at Jack's insult towards Bill, to which the prize fighter heard. Bill turned his head and rolled his eyes with a slight snicker.

"Yeah, keep rolling your eyes, perhaps you'll find a brain."

The two friends laughed at Bill as he marched away to do his own thing, perhaps to set up his lodging for now. As for the rest of the day, it went on smoothly with little arguments from Bill after the one he had moments ago. As for the night though, it would prove to be a lot rougher than the day…


	23. Forced away

(Chapter 23: Forced away)

The white moon overlooked the rock plateau in which overlooked Casa Madaruga. Everyone within the settlement and outside, they were all asleep. Alonzo woke up from his outside tent to see a person running at the settlement from the desert.

"BlackJacks!" The man screamed out in warning and fear, as he got closer, the man was revealed to be Bill Pierce.

"Where the Hell have you been, Bill?" Alonzo growled, Bill didn't answer, running inside of the fort.

"Everybody get inside of the fort, now!"

The people sleeping in tents outside of the fort, were quick to run inside of the settlement's gates. Jack slowly pulled out binoculars, and zoomed in on the desert, Rebecca looked at her best friend within the gang with a concerned look on her face.

"Shit, Bill's right.."

Jack seen Douglas Mulligan walking towards the fort with a double barreled shotgun in his arms, behind him were several members of the BlackJack gang. Instead of charging, they were all making a slow and methodical approach towards the settlement. It looked like Douglas was mumbling something.

"Nobody can predict my death, and if my death is to be because of this mongrel gang of outlaws, I'm taking down the whole gang with me." Douglas growled, his face showing loads of anger on it. He then turned to face the BlackJack gunmen behind him.

"Tonight we end one of the last few gangs that plague this country, these godless and sinful outlaws shall all perish by our weaponry and shall face the judgement of the Lord. Tonight, we are the sword of God, now let's go kill these sons of bitches before their virus spread even more!" Douglas shouted, then the gunmen made their charge with a loud battlecry.

Jack was quick to crowd the rest of the gang within the gates of Casa Madaruga. With the combined efforts of other gang members, the gates of the settlement were closed on the charging gunmen in black clothing.

"Everyone, arm yourselves right now!" Jack shouted as the battlecry of the BlackJack gunmen only got louder.

Every single member of the Marston Gang picked up arms, shotguns and rifles alike. Jack carried the cattleman revolver that was passed down from one legend to another, from Arthur Morgan, to John Marston, and now to Jack Marston. Rebecca ran inside of a building, and came out with a small basket of none other than dynamite sticks.

"Hey BlackJacks, here is a present for ya!" The irish woman cried out, as she lobbed a dynamite stick over the settlement, seconds went by and then a loud explosion was heard, several horses were heard making whines of pain, and cries of agony from BlackJack gunmen.

As the gunmen scrambled to try and get inside of the settlement, Douglas Mulligan continued to make his slow approach. The BlackJack leader pulled out something from his inventory pouch, it was a single stick of dynamite. Without emotion, he lit the stick up, and then launched it towards the gates of Casa Madaruga. A few members of the Marston Gang was sent flying back once the gates blown up before them, those few members were killed. Jack, Rebecca, Dred, and Bill all aligned together. Each of the four used their dead eye abilities to down several BlackJack gunmen that rushed in as there was chaos all around them from so many gang members firing at the BlackJacks.

A BlackJack member was able to rush through and hurl a dynamite stick towards the large building, Jack was barely able to shoot the stick with his Dead Eye. The dynamite burst, and created a large hole within the building, the four all stumbled back, with Dred managing to shake off the ringing in his ears.

Douglas continued to make his approach towards the settlement, he seen the gunsmoke rising into the air, and the smoke from the dynamite too. There was several screams of battle and pain coming from within the settlement, this was a sign for Douglas to end things.

"Marston!" Douglas cried out in rage, breaking out into a run towards the hole in the front gate of Casa Madaruga.

From within the settlement, a BlackJack member charged at Dred. The member was intercepted by Tonya, who was woken up by the chaos. Tonya held two knives in her hands, and she savagely plunged them into the eyes of Dred's attacker, making blood gush and spatter out of them. The BlackJack member howled in agony as the blades of the knives penetrated his eyeballs, forever blinding him.

Tonya let out a battle cry, and hurled one knife towards another charging attacker, downing her, and then she hurled the other knife towards another attacker, downing him. Dred and Tonya, both of whom were in love with each other, started to work together at downing many BlackJack members as they had their backs against each other, defending themselves.

With the dead eye ability being taught to many Marston Gang members throughout the day as they stayed at Casa Madaruga, the night siege of the BlackJacks didn't seem to be going so well as Douglas had planned out. Many members were being downed, and very little members of the Marston Gang were being killed as each member defended the other.

Marston had crawled onto the porch of the building, as well as Rebecca. Bill had used the banister of the stairs to pull himself up. Everyone that had been rocked by the stick of dynamite was groggy, Jack Marston could have sworn someone was calling his name in an angry tone. He looked over his shoulder to see Douglas Mulligan rushing towards him, Rebecca attempted to shoot the BlackJack leader down, but since she was groggy, the bullet missed the target. The BlackJack leader was then seen tackling the Marston Gang leader through the window, making a loud shattering noise as they fell through. Bill gasped, and went to help Jack.

Douglas slowly got to his feet, his paragon town hat had fell off of his head, Jack's hat that his father worn when he was still alive, it had fallen off too. Jack slowly reached for his cattleman revolver, he looked up to see the boot of Douglas ramming into his face, this would make Jack collapse onto his back.

Douglas walked back towards where he had gotten up, although still a bit groggy. He picked up his double barreled shotgun with a look of malice on his face, he slowly turned around with a smug grin on his face.

"I'm gonna put you down before you and your rats even have a chance to plague America with your anti-law bullshit." Douglas said, slowly aiming at Jack's head.

Before the BlackJack leader had a chance to fire, he felt a wooden chair being smashed into his head. Bill had came to rescue Jack, Douglas was knocked to the side a few feet from the hit. Bill noticed that Douglas had dropped the shotgun, so he shoved it away with his boot. Douglas turned his head to look at Bill Pierce, he had an enraged snarl on his face.

"Come get some!" Bill shouted, putting up his knuckles for an old fashioned bare knuckle fight.

Douglas let out an angry scream, then charging at Bill at full speed. The prize fighter was able to stumble Douglas around with a well timed elbow strike to the top of his head, Douglas collapsed to one knee. Bill looked over at Jack for a moment with a smile on his face, a satisfied smile.

"You can do the honors."

Jack grabbed the double barreled shotgun, slowly rising to his feet. Then the unexpected happened, Markus Van Der Linde busted in through a door. Bill quickly reached down to pick up Jack's cattleman revolver, while holding his own revolver in the other hand.

"I owe you pain, you son of a bitch!" Bill growled, but Markus wasn't focused on the prize fighter, he was focused on Jack Marston in whom was aiming point blank at Douglas's head.

"Marston, I have waited for far too long to put you down." Markus growled, three more men entered in behind him, first was Lou Scherr, Lou looked at Bill with hate in his eyes. Bill looked shocked to see Lou Scherr, his old Saint Denis Fighting Pit rival.

Then Mickey Owens entered the door, followed by Brodie Lowe. Bill looked at the three former fighters, it was Jack Marston and Bill Pierce holding the leader of the BlackJacks hostage, and four men in which were siding with the BlackJacks. Then, Rebecca, Tonya, and Dred entered the room.

Two groups of five had an intense stare off, each looking at their selected enemy with hate and some with shock. Douglas was handed back over to the BlackJacks by Jack Marston, the gunslinger didn't want his men and women getting hurt.

"If I were you, I would leave this place, I'm giving you a single day to move as far as you possibly can." Douglas growled, getting helped up from Markus Van Der Linde.

"Stop following us, we're just trying to survive in a land that doesn't want us anymore. You're gang is just as bad as mine, the law both wants us, I would be more worried about the law, than about us." Jack said in an angry tone, giving Douglas a hateful glare.

"No, I'm not going to stop. Wiping you off the face of the planet makes our job easier, we need money to make our move further East. We're going across the Atlantic."

It was then revealed to Jack that the BlackJacks were targeting his gang for money in order to flee from the United States just as he was trying to make money to head for California in order to leave for Tahiti.

"Fine, if you continue to hunt us down, expect us to do the same. One day, you won't be as lucky, one day you will die by my hand." Jack said calmly, then leaving with his gang. Most of the BlackJack gunmen began to retreat.

Douglas, along with Markus's men, all watched as the Marston Gang began to pack up their weapons, clothing, and other items into their caravan. The horses were safe due to them being hitched behind the rock plateau.

Markus was not so sure about letting the Marston Gang get away with their lives, he would rather kill the leaders of the gang right now.

"Douglas, we can kill these generals, the elites of the Marston Gang, watch the gang's numbers dwindle. Instead you let them run away, and by the time we get them, they'll be recovered, and launching attacks every single day." Markus spoke in protest, Douglas shook his head.

"No, I but tire them all out. Once we find them back in America, we'll pick them off one by one."

Markus liked Douglas's way of thinking, to tire them out and slowly take them all out one by one seemed like an idea that would be easy and quick once they got back to America.

The Marston Gang began to make their long, and tiresome march home. Each gang member was tired, and they had only lost five people during the raid, almost as soon as they found their new home, it was raided.

"We can't breathe, Jack. Why don't we just give it up now, accept a fate from the court." Bill pleaded, riding beside Jack in the convoy.

"No, we will get through this. I've got another plan, this one will work, I promise." Jack responded, sounding extremely tired as his eyes drooped and drooped as he and his large gang of rebellion soldiers and gun women rode through the night in the deserts of Mexico.

"You and your plans! What is it Jack? What is the new plan that will provide us salvation for only a few hours before we are all killed?" Bill asked furiously.

"We will split the gang up, a squadron will go in directions I have been coming up with in my mind. One group will head up into the Grizzlies, the other will travel into an old town up in the mountains. The settlement in the mountains has collapsed by now, we will use these fallen resources to build another camp. There will be around three camps in the same general location, I am adding on to this plan over time." Jack explained his plan, the leader of the Marston Gang wanted to come up with a plan that will help them fend off the BlackJacks, and also complete robberies.

Bill sighed, and then his sighs turned into annoyed growls.

"The cold mountains.. I hate it."

Jack was fed up, Bill was constantly doubting him ever since the gang had started. It was boiling up further and further in the mind of the Marston boy.

"Look, you are going to get used to it. If you can't handle the cold, then you can leave this gang and go do your own thing. Live with the shame that you failed."

"I'm not useless.."

Jack looked towards Bill with an angered expression on his face, he kept hearing Bill repeat those words over and over.

"Why do you keep saying that shit, it is better to already be an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it."

Bill clenched one fist where Jack couldn't see it, with each insult thrown by him and Rebecca, it drove Bill's trust in the gang further away.

"You almost had our entire gang wiped out at El Presidio, that alone was a stupid move, we could have let Tonya get fucked to insanity by the mexicans, one life is not more important than so many others, especially if you consider this gang's future. There is no vaccine for stupidity, that is a shame because you'll die from it Jack. Just as Arthur died from TB."

The insult thrown to Arthur Morgan drove Jack furious, he snapped at Bill.

"Don't you dare insult him! Or else I will leave you here in the desert right now!"

Bill fired back.

"Freedom of speech Jack, I can say whatever I want. I can beat your ass right now." Bill warned, this caused Rebecca to run up behind Bill's horse on horseback, and nail him in the back of the head with her pistol.

Bill Pierce was stunned, he could still hear what everyone was saying as his horse continued to carry his body.

"He was just playing around Bill, you pussy, mess with my Jack and I will knock you out myself." Rebecca growled as she rode her horse to be beside Jack's.

Bill could only watch on as the couple continued to lead the gang, he still remained in the gang only because necessity and nothing else…


	24. The Plan

(Chapter 24: The Plan)

Time passed on, it would take the Marston Gang around two days to reach America once again. They had arrived at Butter Bridge, a location where America and Mexico were linked.

The BlackJacks would soon be hot on their heels, so the gang had to make a decision and fast. Their rival gang was one day behind them, but the BlackJacks would be quick to catch up with them. So Jack Marston had came up with a plan to confuse the rival gang, and to remain hidden.

The convoy had come to a stop on the side of a large hill in Hennigan's Stead, it would be only a temporary stop before heading back into the direction of the Grizzlies Mountains and the Redemption Mountains.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a plan that will get us out of here, a plan that will keep us hidden from BlackJacks and the law!" Jack attempted to announce his loud voice was weak and it went quiet quickly.

"The plan is, we will all split up in groups of three. I want fifteen people in each group, we will all need to stay within the same range. The mountains are where we will head to, the cold will keep the law from coming, even the BlackJacks. They will be confused, and by the time they discover what we are doing, they will be dead before reporting it. Most of you are from a rebellion in Mexico, most of you are good with guns, so good luck with what you men and women have."

Bill sat down against the hill and looked up at Jack, Rebecca was being held in Jack after she collapsed due to exhaustion. Dred was standing beside his girlfriend, Tonya.

"The generals of the gang, me, Rebecca, Dred, Tonya, and Bill. Will go into the Redemption Mountains, we will take a good few more men and women up there with us to aid us in building our new main camp. There used to be a camp up there known as Cochinay."

Bill decided to ask about Cochinay, he hoped that it was hard to get into.

"Hey Jack, is this camp similar to a fort? Is it a challenge to get into?"

"Well, yes, but actually no. It is at the highest point in the mountains so far, there is naturally made rocks that have a flat surface where we can climb to safety in the case if it is to be attacked. It is still intact, but most of it has been destroyed. We can build some more to it, that is if we absolutely needed to." Jack explained, Bill was slightly calmed but not completely.

"When are we going to rob our first bank? We have yet to do that.." Bill asked again, yawning seconds later.

"Soon, we need to start small. If we perform a huge heist now, our names will be on wanted posters all over West Elizabeth, New Austin, and so forth. Now, we should all rest. However, I'd like for someone to head up into that wooded area that sits above the train tracks. There's a good game, there is some boar, deer, and even cougars, so be careful."

The Marston Gang would go on to rest while Dred and Bill decided to go out and hunt, marching up into the wooded area. They had to be careful, cougars were known to lurk around in Hennigan's Stead, and the wild boar were vicious when they defended themselves.

Bill and Dred stayed low to the ground, stealthy as they could be. Their eyes darting two and fro, and looking carefully into the shady areas of the trees to see if they could find a possible cougar in the brush.

"Remember, we need enough food to feed this entire gang." Dred reminded, Bill nodded his head. The two continued to search around for game to hunt.

(Casa Madaruga)

Douglas Mulligan sat on the top of the rock formation in which overlooked the settlement, smoking a cigar as he watched The Blackjacks hard working, he would give The Marston Gang time to recover from their long journey and strike them when they least expect it. He then heard a familiar voice coming from behind him, and faint footsteps.

"Hello, friend. How are you doing this fine afternoon?" The voice said, Douglas got up and turned to see that strange man again. The man in the suit and tophat, and the nice mustache. Douglas raised an eyebrow.

"You again, how did you get here?" Douglas asked, slowly going for his revolver. The strange man stood perfectly still, not even moving.

"I'm a nomad, I'm always traveling. Going from place to place, I'm always busy just like you. I happen to know where your worst enemies are, remember West Elizabeth?"

There was a pause and Douglas snickered, the man kept his eyes locked on the BlackJack leader, the same thousand yard stare right into his eyes.

"Yeah, I remember West Elizabeth. That's where our ladies and unfit men are, the Wreck of Serendipity. Why do you ask?"

"The Marston Gang is up there, in West Elizabeth right now. I'd go after them while you still have a chance. Your time is running out cowboy."

Douglas grabbed his revolver out of the holster, giving the strange man a hateful look. Trying to intimidate the man, it wasn't working as the strange man looked down at a watch.

"Don't waste your time, see you around Douglas Mulligan…"

* * *

**A/N: Hey Red Dead fans and readers alike, it has come to my attention that this story is gaining loads of views and favorites, and follows. I'd like to thank all who have taken the time to read the story, liked and followed it. Feel free to leave a review on this story at any chapter, and leave any criticism if needed. I would also like to ask of you fans of the story to give me some ideas, I am all up for suggestions as I am for my other stories on this site. If you have any ideas for this story or suggestions, please PM me, it will motivate me to continue writing this story and it could help it out actually. Once again, thank you guys, it means loads to me - Calebshane1219**


	25. Setting Up

(Chapter 25: Setting up)

A wild boar squealed out in pain as a shotgun shell was blasted into its side, it turned around and charged at Dred, the man who fired at it. The african american general of the Marston Gang was elusive enough to swiftly dodged to the side and avoid the hog's charge, Bill lunged on the hog with a knife in his hand from the shadows. The blade plunged into the boar's back, causing it to squeal out in pain, it charged a few more feet forward before collapsing onto its side. The boar went limp seconds later, after the feral hog had collapsed, Bill stood up and winked at Dred.

"You're welcome." Bill said, having a smartass tone to his voice. Dred snickered at it, not thinking much of it as he helped the Saint Denis brawler skin the animal and took some valuable items to sell for money, slicing off the tusks.

At the same time, a pair of scissors went into Jack Marston's hair. It snipped a chunk of his long dark hair from his head, Rebecca McIntyre was cutting it for him with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Why were you wanting to cut your hair?" Rebecca asked as she snipped away, watching the dark hair fall to the ground before him and her.

"Well, I've got to hide my identity in the only ways I know how. If you cut my hair down to almost a clean shave, and shave my facial hair off, I think we should be fine. Remember, we only need to rob a store, we aren't going to go all out and start robbing banks yet."

Rebecca giggled as Jack explained why he was wanting his hair to be cut, she smirked as she snipped at his long hair again, another dark chunk fluttering to the ground.

"What's the matter Jackie? Are you afraid to start robbing banks?" Rebecca teased playfully with a cocky laughter trailing off, this made Jack laugh silently.

"No, we don't need to have the law on our butts. I do, however, like the will you have to go the distance. Such a strong value from you, miss McIntyre."

Rebecca smiled sweetly after Jack gave her that compliment, feeling proud of herself for all that she has done so far in the gang.

"Well then, Mr. Marston, heh, I have a question to ask you."

"Fire away my dear."

"When you killed that man, Edgar Ross, did you have any regrets of it? How did his wife react?"

Once Rebecca asked that question, Jack had a vision of the past. Not too long ago, but a good while back. In the year of 1914, before he even knew any members of his gang, he even had doubts of ever leading a gang in those times.

(Flashback)

Jack Marston stood by the cabin at Lake Don Julio, satisfied in achieving redemption for his father. The body of Edgar Ross was slowly pushed by the waters as his wife slowly emerged out from the front door, she cried out in horror once she seen bullet holes all up her husband's body.

"Christ! What have you done to him!" Emily Ross screamed as she rushed over to where her husband was beginning to float.

"I've done what needed to be done, that is all that needs to be answered." Jack answered, looking down at Emily and her dead husband with a look of pathetic disgust in his eyes, with his arms folded.

"You killed my husband you monster!" Emily Ross wailed, Jack growled in anger in response to the woman calling him a monster.

"He killed my father, he used him, and lied to him. He shot him like a dog, I am giving you a chance to get on out of here before you join your beloved husband." Jack warned, slowly reaching down for his revolver.

Emily looked down, tears streaming down her cheeks in regret and great sadness for what the gunslinger had done to her husband. His body had went cold, his lips turned a ghostly white. The pupils within his eyes had dilated, he was no longer among the living, he was among the dead.

Jack left the woman alone to suffer in silence, entering the cabin and locking her out. This would be his temporary home, it wasn't permanent. The Marston boy looked out of the window to see Emily Ross slowly pushing her husband into the lake, and his body slowly vanished beneath the waters forever. She was seen sitting on her knees in silence, before getting up and leaving.

Deep down, Jack Marston felt sorry to end an elderly man's life. It wasn't right, but anger had clouded his mind and good heart. He had to make the person responsible for killing his father pay, it had to be done.

With Edgar Ross slain, he sat down on the couch and took in a sigh of relief. The man had did it, he vanquished the person responsible for killing John Marston, but it was all bittersweet. This is what John Marston didn't want him to do once he grew up into an adult. Thoughts ran through his mind about future goals now that there was no longer a menace in his life, there would be no more struggles.

He remembered Dutch Van Der Linde, how he had always wanted to leave for Tahiti or California. Those visions never came to be as the man lost his sanity once the old gang started to decline. A slight smile cracked onto his face, Jack wanted to gain retribution for his old gang leader, he wanted to leave America, and head for Tahiti. No more problems, just a lavish lifestyle and chopping mangoes.

To fly under the law's radar, Jack would remain in the cabin by Lake Don Julio. Leaving to Armadillo at one point in September to buy a beautiful Arabian horse, he named the beige colored horse: Arthur.

He thought that it would be easy to flee West towards California, and to buy his way onto a boat for Tahiti. As it would soon turn out though, the process would be very rough and hard. It would start a whole new adventure for Jack Marston, an adventure he didn't want. The year was 1914..

(End Flashback)

"I regret a bit, the old fart needed to pay. I felt sorry for the poor woman, but no one gets to hurt family and friends when I am around." Jack answered with a sigh, Rebecca smiled and hugged around his neck, squeezing gently.

"It's okay, look where you are, where we are now." Rebecca said trying to cheer her leader, and her boyfriend up.

"I've got many goals, and plans for the future of this gang." Jack then looked towards Rebecca after she got through snipping another chunk of hair off of his head. "I've also got plans for our future as well."

The two engaged in a kiss, looking into each other's eyes as everyone else slept. Jack felt a decent mixture of emotions when he was around Rebecca, he felt as if he could take on the world, the feeling of intense bravery. Pride rushed within his body, he felt the need to protect Rebecca as if she was family even though the two weren't related at all. The beautiful looks that the young irish woman had almost forced a prideful smile onto Jack's lips, Rebecca sometimes teased and laughed at the fact.

Jack didn't mind her laughing and teasing at him all that much, it shown to him that she was playful all while being a fighter and having a heart filled with fire. She could turn that playful, happy switch into one of a brave gang general. Jack looked for the content of character when it came to women, and also focused on looks too. Rebecca's character was just perfect to him, when he met her at the Saint Denis Fighting Pits a while back, it was love at first sight.

The two officially engaged in a relationship back when the gang was still camped up at Fort Wallace, a celebration was held with the gang that night, with Bill Pierce becoming drunk and stumbling all over the place, as a matter of fact, the fighting champion of Saint Denis accidentally lit his ass on fire after falling butt first onto the campfire. He was forced to strip naked which got almost the entire fort to laugh wholesomely, it was humiliating for Bill.

In Rebecca's eyes, she saw the same thing that Jack seen within her. Only, it was a greater feeling of utmost respect and love. The young irish woman was part of a family in which had migrated to the United States, her brother was in the Civil War with the Irish Brigade of the Union. He was sadly no longer among the living, she didn't even have a chance to meet him.

Jack Marston cleared out the thoughts of a brother she would never see, something about the outlaw lit up her world and she couldn't ask for a better man. She seen Jack as a noble leader, one who could potentially lead an army if he wanted to. Rebecca seen the Marston boy as a saint in a world of sin, she suddenly felt the kiss the two were sharing get more deeper, as a result of this more satisfying and amazing feeling, she let out a sweet and satisfied moan of pleasure from Jack's kiss. Then the two broken lips, looking at each other in the eyes.

"Rebecca, where did you learn to be such a fighter? Such a fireheart.." Jack said, amazed by his precious woman.

"My brother, my parents told me about my brother. He served in the Irish Brigade, died in a battle in the Civil War. I was taught that he had a bold heart, a will to win. He had to kill to survive, a very charismatic and strong man. I never got to see him, but the stories lit up something within me. As if his spirit.." Rebecca was cut off by Jack who spoke to her softly.

Jack placed a hand on Rebecca's shoulder and gave her a sweet smile.

"He lives in you, that is where you get that fire from. Your brother guides you, watching you from Heaven, he is leading you on the right path."

Rebecca became slightly teary eyed once Jack said those inspiring words, uplifting words. She was on the verge of crying but she held it in, embracing her lover in a tight hug.

"Thank you Jackie, thank you so much.."

Meanwhile, Dred and Bill was carrying a large load of game meat from the boar they had skinned not too long ago. They were ready to provide for the gang as much as they could, especially Bill.

"How does it feel to be on Jack's soft side?Considering he puts me at the bottom of his totem pole like an idiot." Bill asked, curious to see how Dred would react to Jack Marston now that he was alone.

"I'm fine, my question to you Bill, is why do you hate him so much?"

Bill smirked at the ground after hearing Dred's question, the reason why he despised Jack should have been clear to every member of the gang.

"I don't hate the guy, I just think his actions are going to get us into loads of trouble. There are hardly any massive gangs left in America, the 1920s are approaching us. The old west is gonna be over, I am wanting our gang to be safe as can be. Jack resorts to violence, all he could've done is stayed at my mansion and waited for me to get the money from my winnings, I would have gladly shared my money for his travels. I was the richest man in Annesburgh."

"Would you share your money with him now?"

"I don't know how to answer that, Dred. If he is wanting to go to Tahiti, then I would stay. I would share my money with him for sure, if I am removed from this gang, I am homeless and hopeless. I can still find wherever my parents are, but it won't be the same from when I was younger, they've gotten older."

"Where does your parents happen to live?"

"Canada, all the way up there. They almost perished in a blizzard from starvation when I was a young teenager, I have been through cold and harsh conditions before, and I hated it. I am not going to like it when it becomes Winter, and we are in the Grizzlies and the Redemption Mountains."

Bill wouldn't like it when the gang finally set up camp in the snow tipped mountains of the Grizzlies or Redemption Mountains, it was still up to Jack Marston where they would all finally settle down.

(Mexico)

"Douglas, what can I do for you? I haven't been able to do shit while we've been to the East of the Grizzlies Mountains." Shaw asked, wanting desperately to have some sort of mission. Either to capture the Marston Gang or to kill one of their members.

"Shaw, when have you ever done shit?"

Shaw went silent after he was insulted by Douglas, the BlackJack leader still felt shaken up by the strange man. The man he had met for the second time on the rock plateau, he didn't know who he was. He didn't know how he could not even feel a bullet go into his body, if the bullet ever did enter his body. Shaw was angered by this, and stormed out of the room with a pissed off expression on his face.

"What is wrong Shaw, lighten up would ya. We've been putting pressure on the Marston Gang." Markus Van Der Linde said, Shaw stopped to speak with the long lost son of Dutch for a moment.

"He strokes the dicks of the Lanza brothers, I just know he does. It would be easier if we all had something to do in this large ass desert." Shaw growled as he noticed Douglas's wife, Elizabeth Mulligan, walking down the hall.

"He tends to his woman other than important matters, we could be on a boat to Europe, but no we've got to stay in this dry ass place called Mexico."

Markus chuckled at Shaw's annoyed anger, much like Bill, Shaw felt greatly neglected by his gang and wanted a second chance to prove himself.

"Relax Shaw, you'll get your chance of greatness. Hopefully soon with me, we can head on to Tahiti or California." Markus said with an optimistic grin on his face, Shaw sighed and continued walking down the hall.

The night came and went on to pass, when the morning would come, the Marston Gang would rise to full strength and with bright minds. The gang gathered around Jack, who was delivering some announcements and more of what was going to go down.

"Now that we have gotten enough rest, we should be ready to head on up into the mountains. I would like half of this gang to make their way over towards the Grizzlies, and I want the other half to head with me and the other leaders up into the Redemption Mountains. You fellas will be more safe in the Grizzlies, it is further away from here. You will need a leader to guide you, Bill Pierce will be the one to aid you all."

Bill looked at Jack Marston with a shocked face, once again he was sent away from the main part of the gang where all the other leaders were, it was like Jack was fucking with Bill Pierce on purpose for some reason.

"Jack! Are you out of your mi.." Jack would stop Bill Pierce before he could even finish his sentence.

"Bill, I don't want to hear it. We've got time to rest, I don't want to listen to your fickle."

After a few minutes of planning and arranging up the convoy once more, the gang was off in their separate paths. Each one heading for a different location, the gang was split in half now. The stronger half consisting of most of the generals was heading for the Redemption Mountains. Bill lead the half in which was going for the Grizzlies with an annoyed look on his face, he clearly wanted help leading a massive portion of the gang, he feared that he couldn't do it on his own…


	26. Crackdown

(Chapter 26: Crackdown)

A few days went on to pass, and the Marston Gang was split in two. One half was in the Redemption Mountains, and the other half was in the mining town of Colter in the Grizzlies. The gang was lucky that it wasn't Winter, or else they would be in trouble. Bill would be leading the half of the gang in which was in the Grizzlies Mountains.

Jack Marston and his half of the gang was working on rebuilding Cochinay, a fortress at the highest point in the Redemption Mountains. Those days turned into weeks, once the second week went on to pass. The BlackJacks arrived in New Austin once again, ready to decimate the Marston Gang even further.

Archer Fordham, who had taken Edgar Ross' place months after he died, was waiting for the BlackJack elites to get back to the Town Hall of Blackwater so he could speak to them. He still didn't know that these people he took for bounty hunters were actually notorious criminals West of the Grizzlies.

The first thing that the BlackJacks did once they all returned back into West Elizabeth, was that all of the working men and women settled back into Thieves' Landing. The generals of the gang all took shelter in the Wreck of Serendipity.

"Finally, home." Jake Lanza said with a tone of relief, happy to be back in familiar territory, it was much cooler in this area than in the hot deserts of Mexico.

"Yes, after a few damn days of constant travel, we are finally back. Now we have to rest, we have no clue where the Marston Gang is, I might send a squad out to scout around town later on today. We need to rest, but I along with Nicholas Lana, is going to Blackwater town hall to report on what happened over the past few weeks, even a month."

"Any plans on getting The Marstons from out of hiding?" Markus asked, leaning in a doorway.

"I've got an idea, to take away that darkie woman from the gang. The entire gang went to get her back, she alone, is the reason we are on this wild goose chase all throughout the two countries. I've got a hunch to send her up into the mines by Annesburgh, she won't last long.."

(Cochinay)

In the place where Dutch met his end, the stronger half of the Marston Gang was setting up base. They aimed to build it up just like Dutch's Gang did, except it wouldn't fall as easy. They all had just completed working on the first area of the settlement, it was divided up into three areas.

The front gate stood to be seventeen feet tall with a wall equally as high, there was a walkway for a watchtower. There was also peepholes in the front gate with slots for eyeholes, this was the front gate, and the most important one at that. The first area was beyond the front gate, it is a narrow area between two cliffs, with some trees on the right side and several boulders scattered around the central clearing. They were going to start building the second area of the base at some point today, for now, they were resting and eating mid-day meals.

"Jack, I don't think it is a good idea to start robbing people this early, a bank heist or even a store robbery should wait for a bit longer. We've been collecting hides and valuables from the animals we've hunted so far, perhaps if we sell it at the stores, we can get some money." Dred advised as he sat by the campfire in the clearing within the first area, sticking a piece of deer meat over the fire.

"Well, what stuff do we have?" Jack asked, taking a bite out of the cooked deer meat he was holding.

"We have all sorts of shit, boar tusks, wolf pelts. Several buck antlers, the choice is yours to make."

"Jackie, you mentioned big plans for our gang looking forward. What are those plans?" Rebecca asked, curious to know what would happen in the future years or days.

"Well, I am looking forward to getting many more members into this gang. We could form an entire army, when that day comes, we will start our robbery spree. There are a few key banks I am wanting to rob with this gang, that is the Blackwater bank, and the Saint Denis bank. Once we deal with the BlackJacks, we will move beyond the mountains and navigate West."

"What about Bill Pierce? I wonder how his half of the gang is doing.." Tonya asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"It's cold as hell in the Grizzlies, I remember being up there as a small child. It is colder than it is here. I can only hope that he doesn't do anything stupid, knowing his idiocy, he might flee with his half of the gang. Me and him don't seem to get along all that much…" Jack explained, letting out a sigh moments later..

(Grizzlies Mountains, Colter)

A few log cabins had been built by Bill's half of the gang, so far, he has proven to be an excellent leader. He went out to hunt by himself a couple of times to provide for the gang, killing him some elk and bighorn rams within the snowy tips of the mountains. The old mining town had been restored and several members of Bill's half of the gang were taking shelter in it. His half used it how the Van Der Linde gang used it back in 1899.

Bill was eyeing down a mountain, the same mountain that John Marston got trapped on way back in 1899. He felt that if he had gone to the top of the mountain and used binoculars to scope out the land, he could potentially find another spot for a base. After a few minutes of thinking, he left the camp unexpectedly, traveling to the top of the mountain via a snowy path. Once he reached the top of the mountain, he walked over to where a tight squeeze of a crevice was, he could shift through the tight space and come out on the other side.

He was at a perfect enough height, the ground was a few thousand feet below him. He decided to pull out the binoculars now, and scout around while he was safe at the top of the mountain. As he looked at all the land West of the tallest mountain in the Grizzlies, he wondered if he could actually leave away with his half of the gang into a warmer environment. After a few minutes of looking around, he decided to make his way down into Colter once again.

"Bill, food is dwindling again. We'll be needing some more provisions when night falls, try and find us a big animal. Like a bear or something, or a moose." One of the members suggested to him, the thought put a smile on Bill's face.

He wanted to kill a moose for the longest time, not because he hated the animal itself, not because it was for food, but because it stood as a symbol of his failure when he was a teenager when his parents were sick, and starving in the cold. To kill a bull moose, preferably a large one, was a way for him to lift a heavy burden that has troubled his mind for a long time.

(Later that day)

Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza sat before Archer Fordham at the Blackwater town hall, both were ready to deliver the news of all that has gone down since they have been out of the country and in Mexico for quite some time.

"We've chased them all over the state, even traveling down into Mexico. They attacked El Presidio, one of the most heavily guarded fortresses in that area. Their gang was decimated, but somehow it grew to large size once again."

"They managed to get inside of El Presidio!?" Archer boomed, shocked at how much the Marston Gang had done.

"Yes, their generals were critically hurt. I don't know how healed they are, they managed to make it to another settlement. We managed to run them off, we killed a good slew of them, but the gang is still at large."

There was a pause in the room, with Archer Fordham letting out a sigh of disbelief.

"I am placing a higher bounty on the gang, if they stormed Sisika and stormed El Presidio. Their bounty is going to go up in the thousands, I would say four thousand dollars for the downfall of the gang. Nine hundred dollars for each of the generals." Archer announced.

Suddenly, there was a loud cheering uproar from outside of town hall. Douglas gave Archer a puzzled look, he wondered why people were suddenly cheering.

"What's going on?" Douglas asked.

"Governor Nate Johns is coming back here, he fled from West Elizabeth because people didn't like him. Ever since then, he's gotten a shitload of money from his campaigns. He is coming here to deliver some news concerning gangs, rumors have it that this is a pretty big announcement."

The three men headed outside and walked over to where Nate Johns was delivering a speech, he was at the docks with a large canopy over his head and a crowd surrounding him. Some people in the back of the crowd were booing, even flipping Johns off from afar.

"Fellow citizens of Blackwater, and West Elizabeth. I am here to address some things and I am here to also announce some things." Johns spoke into the microphone, his voice echoing across the area of which he stood in.

"I am back as governor, now you may remember me going away for a while after some lies were thrown around about me being a crook. Instead of me, you fellers gotten Henry Walters as governor. It is unfortunate news that he passed away, the reason has yet to be discovered. So the government of this fine state came calling to me again, since I was the only one that was left."

Archer Fordham gave Johns a questionable look from afar, Henry Walters was the governor of the state. Walters had control over most of West Elizabeth and New Austin, until he supposedly passed away due to unknown reasons.

"So in order to win back the audiences, I have decided to try and get rid of the problems that have been haunting this state. I know the various gangs have caused chaos, the town of Armadillo was left in ruins due to an unknown gang passing through. Word has gone out that the biggest prison in Mexico has been raided by the Marstons. I am here to announce that from this day forward, there will be a crackdown on all gangs. The searches will extend from the farthest reaches of New Austin, all the way into the Grizzlies Mountains ..."

Douglas and Nicholas both looked at each other, the Wreck of Serendipity was dangerously close to Blackwater. They both knew that their gang caused the ultimate destruction of Armadillo, and if they were to be caught, their penalty could be death.

"I am proud to announce that bounty hunter Douglas Macintosh and his band of bounty hunters have came to West Elizabeth to destroy any gang member found within this state."

Douglas let out a sigh of relief, but he was still on edge about it. Now that there would be a statewide crackdown on violence and gangs, he could very well be in trouble.

"Mr. Fordham, I have to leave. I'll bring back more news if we get any more info on the Marston Gang's whereabouts." Douglas said, before leaving Blackwater with Nicholas Lanza.

As the two rode down the dirt path towards Thieves' Landing, they both gave each other a look of worry. They feared that the law would find their camp and would attack them all, he felt that the BlackJacks should move away from their current camp. It wasn't so good for the Marston Gang either...


	27. Descending Law

(Chapter 27: Descending Law)

The three indians that had helped out the Marston Gang during the Sisika Raid, had built up their own tribe. At first, they were three lone native americans with different goals in life, until society drove them out of their home. The town of Blackwater was expanding, with plans of turning into a full fledged city like Saint Denis was. The bridge that was to be built across the Flat Iron Lake was only a small bit of Blackwaters expansion.

The governor of West Elizabeth discovered their tipis in the wooded area around one mile away from Blackwater, after a minor skirmish with the law, the three warriors were forced to flee. Since their leave from Blackwater, the indians have been fairly hidden within the forests in Ambarino. They also had a huge amount of hatred for the growing society, longing for a more old school feel with no cities around. They preferred the days of the old west, small towns and vast land to explore, than the growing times in which would be called The Prohibition, far in the future.

Not too long after the Sisika Raid, they vanished into uncharted territory beyond Annesburgh, this territory was the same land that Jack Marston had discovered during his struggle with Nicholas Lanza, not too long ago. Several members of their new tribe consisted of fleeing prisoners from Sisika, and indians that have also wanted to go against the tyrannical rule of growing society.

The three leaders of the tribe were savages went it came to combat, the most battle crazed member of the three was War Eagle, he had a tendency to go out into violent outbursts, he previously didn't have a name but due to his savage attack style, it earned him the name. Chief RainWater was the leader of the group, and the least violent. FireMaker loved to create fire arrows and would usually rally up the warriors to combat, starting fires within the hearts of all he stood around.

Their large tribe didn't have a name, no one decided, and they all suggested that they shouldn't have a name. If they ever did label themselves, they could get caught more easily. It was night, and the tribe of twenty seven members, all of whom were trained in combat and endurance, were asleep. One of the members was Ahote, he would watch over the tribe at night. He was a nocturnal native american, taking several naps during the day so he could stay up all night to defend the tribe or alert them of danger.

The loving partner of FireMaker, Awenita, woke up to see Ahote standing guard at the star shaped land that was the shore of the river, it was called "Star Land" by all of the tribe. Ahote wore armor made of leather and bone from the bison that they had killed, he also held a shield and a spear. Still as a statue, he gazed into the hilly forests on the other side of the river.

"Ahote, why are you still awake? Nothing has came after us, you should fear not of what is going on over in Annesburgh." Awenita asked, Ahote had been staying up for quite some time as of today moving into the night.

"You never know what may menace our people beyond those hills, what if the prison guards from Sisika come hunting for us? The three chiefs have a huge bounty on their heads, especially after War Eagle apparently raped the prison owner's wife before killing her. Unless we move further away from this spot, which I do not find to be a good idea, I should stand guard no matter the wind, rain, or whatever the weather happens to come across the skies."

The reason why Ahote and quite a few other tribe members didn't want to leave the "Star Land," was because the land by the stream contained various natural growing foods such as potatoes and beans, potentially carrots too.

"Well, I thank you for protecting us. Goodnight."

Awenita then went back into her tipi and went back to sleep with Ahote keeping guard over the tribe as long as he could until morning. At one point during his watchtime, he saw what appeared to be a horse with a saddle on it's back, moving in the shadows from across the river. Night went on and on with Ahote never growing tired as he kept still like a statue as he watched over the tribe.

(The next morning)

Jack Marston sat in the BlackWater restaurant, his hair cut and his attire looking completely different so he wouldn't be noticed by any law enforcement within the area. The building smelled great, the aroma of baking bread in the ovens and various food being cooked, there was also the distinct smell of beer as well. The outlaw happened to be sitting next to two authorities, the police officers were speaking of the government crackdown within West Elizabeth, and expanding throughout the state.

"Nate Johns has been working on a way to get rid of all possible gang threats in West Elizabeth and the state, I've got duty this afternoon. We're gonna be searching throughout Tall Trees for a few hours, if we find anyone lurking within that area that we find suspicious, we bring 'em to jail or something." The officer spoke to his partner, whom happened to not know who Nate Johns was at the time.

"Nate Johns? Who the hell is Nate Johns?" The other officer asked with a chuckle trailing off at the end of his question.

"He's a piece of shit, the only good thing he's really done is set up the FBI over here in Blackwater, thanks to him, the Van Der Linde Gang is no longer a menace. John Marston was killed a few years back, then he just fell off the map."

This explanation made Jack infuriated, at first he was curious about this man known as Nate Johns, but now he learned that Johns was the one who started the FBI in West Elizabeth. It seemed that even these police officers despised him, the leader of the Marston Gang now had another goal in his mind, kill off Nate Johns at some point, and some point soon.

As for Bill Pierce's half of the gang, the law was already descending. The prize fighter was lurking throughout the forests in Ambarino, over by the Doverhill laboratory. It was a bright and sunny day this morning as the rays of light shined within the cracks between the trees. Food was scarce in the cold mountains in Ambarino, the only thing that they could find was big horn rams and a few deer. There would rarely be a single bear or a moose down by a frozen basin with an empty shack right next to it, the only large animal that was common was elk.

Bill Pierce was hunting for food, to deliver to his half of the gang. He felt that he was finally in control, that he could make decisions. He wanted to leave out on his own with this gang, and to start a fighting arena once again in an isolated area. The former fighting champion could hear the clopping of hooves against the dirt road path that was close by, Bill knew what happened the last time he was in this area. He was attacked and followed by Markus Van Der Linde, and the BlackJacks came soon afterwards.

The prize fighter took shelter behind a large bush, looking through the small cracks to see beautiful brown horses with men in blue uniforms riding on them, it was the police. Bill wasn't aware of the government crackdown of gangs within the entire state. The small squad of police came to a stop, Bill's heart started to pound in his chest, he found it hard to not make a move.

"Alright, now that we're here. I want you all to look in this forest and in the mountains, we need to find any member of the Marston Gang and bring him to justice." A voice spoke, Bill presumed this to be the leader of the squad. The prize fighter had hidden himself at a decent amount away from the treeline, the light peering in through the trees would make it hard to steal through the shade full of stealth.

Bill didn't know how many officials stood there, but he felt that it would be a decent sized squadron. If he broke out of cover, he would be overwhelmed and brought down by gunfire or by numbers. The prizefighter felt that he would need to use his dead eye ability, he closed his eyes slowly with the crunch of dead leaves growing nearer and nearer to him. He controlled his breathing to be calm and slow and he opened his eyes slowly, the world was slowing down around him.

Bill sprung out from cover, the surroundings still slow. He seen a few police making their way towards him, some of them gasped and took aim on the prizefighter, but they were all gunned down within a matter of seconds, all with blood splattering from wounds on their heads as they fell back. Three more police ran around the large patch of shrubbery to try and outflank the fighter, one of them fired at Bill's head, the prizefighter turned his head to see them. He watched in slight awe as the bullet slowly flew by his head, he dug in his pocket while firing with one hand. He managed to get one cop in the gut twice, causing him to lurch over and fall to the ground. Bill shot the revolver out of the second cop's hand, causing him to gasp and run for cover. A throwing knife was hurled at the third officer by Bill, nailing him right in the chest.

He started to backpedal away from where he stood, more and more police officers charged at him with several bullets going in his direction. Bill turned around and rushed through the forest as he felt the dead eye ability fading away, he ran in between trees and smashed through shrubbery, trying to juke out and outrun the authorities that were chasing him. This move was risky, he was heading South towards Annesburgh. He whistled for his horse as he ran, the prizefighter could hear his steed neighing out of panic as it approached him.

The officers continued to fire at Bill, many of the bullet missed him while some hit him in the back and some others grazed his arm. He ran down a hill and slid under a fallen white log that was resting against a tree, he continued to slide down the hill before running out into an open area, going past an abandoned trading post, right close by to Brandywine Drop. As he made out into the open, he was able to have enough time to hop on his horse.

"There's that son of a bitch, get him!" Another officer could be heard shouting, Bill looked over to see another squad of cops coming at him from the right. He rode his horse forward, the animal rushing forth and away from the squad as fast as it could. Bill's heart raced, he didn't want to be put in jail at the risk of being hanged, this couldn't be happening to him.

The horse didn't make it far as it was shot in the leg, making it fall forward, hurling Bill Pierce off of it's back. The prizefighter slammed into the ground with a thud and a pained grunt came from his lips, but this was risky to stay down as he heard the horses of the police squadron galloping closer towards him. He slowly turned around and used as much dead eye ability that he had left within him, firing once into the head of an oncoming officer. The horses around the fallen officer panicked and made them run around wildly, the police struggled to get a good aim on the prizefighter. Bill decided that this would give him the opportunity to run some more.

He ran on foot, with the officers gaining back control of their horses moments later. He ran down a hill, his heart racing, sweating from the pure intensity of the situation, and he was starting to run out of breath from running without stopping for a good amount of time. He broke through a small tree, shoving the limb away with his arms as he heard shot after shot ring out from behind him. Bill happened to be in a particularly shady area, and he only focused on what was in front of him, not the ground.

Suddenly, his foot got caught in something and he fell down into a hole. Bill groaned in pain, grasping at his hurt ankle before crawling forwards into darkness. He could hear the rounds going off from the police as he sat underneath a rock within some sort of tunnel. He noticed that he could stand up once he moved further into some sort of underground chamber. The sun provided just enough light for him to see. The walls around him appeared to be made out of a stone brick material that had moss all over it, he had never seen anything like this before. He moved right into a different chamber of whatever this place was, there was a shelf to his left once he entered the chamber.

Much to his surprise, there were four skulls sitting on this shelf of rock, it startled him and made him jump, but there wasn't enough room to jump up which meant that he hit his head on the stone ceiling. He moved further into this chamber to see more skulls on the wall, one of them even had a viking helmet on it. The prizefighter stayed in the chamber, feeling safe even though he was surrounded by skulls in which were several centuries old. The voices of the police faded away with each passing minute, Bill took a sigh of relief, walking out of the chamber out into a wider space.

There was a large stone in the center of this above ground chamber, it appeared to be an altar or something you would place a body on. On Top of the stone was a skeleton, there was also several bones and skulls surrounding the altar too, the prizefighter came to the conclusion that this was an age old tomb where warriors were put to rest. After leaving the old tomb, he came out to a river where he saw two whitetail deer drinking from the Kamassa River.

The moment was perfect, Bill launched a throwing knife at the deer where the vitals was supposedly located, the deer flopped to the ground and kicked it's legs violently as a lasso was thrown around the second deer's neck, the second deer struggled and thrashed around, but Bill's grip was strong as he approached it. The deer in which was on the ground let out a loud cry before dying at the prizefighter's feet right when he plunged the knife into the lassoed deer, killing it instantly. A satisfied smile came upon his face, now he had a good deal of meat to feed to his half of the Marston Gang.

As he skinned the first deer that he killed, the prizefighter couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched, as he carefully removed the pelt from the deer's body, he looked around the area but seen nothing. Bill has never really been in this area before, so he jumped to the conclusion that his mind may have been playing tricks with him. He walked the length of an entire football field through forest just to give his horse a healing syringe, right in the spot where it had been shot. The horse groaned in pain as it slowly got back up, Bill gave it a gentle pat on the side out of love and respect for his steed before stowing the deer pelt on the back of the horse right behind the saddle.

Bill decided to ride his horse back to the river where he had killed the two deer to make up for all the walking and running he had done to get away from the police, it could've went wrong, very wrong. Once he made it back, the feeling that he was being watched, it returned to his head once again.

"Bah!" He growled, shrugging the sensation off as he went to skin the next deer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something bolt out from the bushes from around fifteen yards to his right.

A cougar was making a wild dash towards Bill, it had been stalking him ever since he arrived at the river. The animal had previously eyed down the deer as potential prey, but Bill was larger and contained more meat, the deer were already dead and the prizefighter was the only one standing now. The cougar roared out, making Bill's eyes widen and it forced him to look up.

"Shit!" He screamed as the cougar pounced on him, the big cat biting at the back of his throat as he spun around and thrashed in a circle to try and get the predator off of his back. He shot his elbow back into the stomach of the cougar, the beast clawed deeply into his upper back in retaliation before sliding away and leaving for just a moment.

The pain was great, he would need to get those claw marks on his back patched up as soon as possible. He growled out in pain as he lurched forward, limping back towards his horse. The heart within his chest was once again racing a mile a minute. The Saint Denis champ removed a bolt action rifle from his horse and turned back around to see the cougar preparing to charge him again, he slowed down his breathing as much as he could, trying desperately to get into a calm state. The dead eye ability was working but ever so slowly as time wasn't slowing down as much as he wanted it to, the cougar growled with saliva visibly dripping from it's maw. The fangs of the big cat were bared and ready to sink into the neck of Bill Pierce, the prizefighter aimed at the cougar as it charged at him once again.

Bill was able to shoot the cougar in the shoulder as it lunged at him, but it wasn't enough to stop the feline from charging. He received another brutal slash from the claws of the large cat, causing him to yelp out in pain and turn around once again to face where the cougar was going. The horse fled from the scene as the prizefighter and the carnivorous animal were fighting each other, Bill seethed in pain. It was so great that he was fighting to hold back tears, he felt every bit of blood that was dripping from the large cuts that the claws of the cougar dealt to his back and shoulder.

"D-dammit.." He groaned, his lips quivering as he aimed at the cougar again with his arms shaking from the pain in which he was in right now. The cougar growled again, smelling the blood on it's claws. It charged once again, and this time, the cougar brought down Bill.

The prizefighter raised the rifle up to his face to block as the cougar was on top of him, biting into the rifle and hissing at him as it thrashed around, trying to break the rifle from Bill's grip and to get the jaws locked around his throat. Bill screamed in what was a mixture of fear and strength, he viciously kicked the underside of the cougar with all of his might. The feline wasn't letting up as it had Bill pinned down, his face could be shoved underwater where his vision would go blurry and he couldn't see if it happened.

The cougar placed it's paw down on his face and pushed down as it continued to thrash and rip at the rifle that was still blocking his throat. Bill noticed what this animal was trying to do. His grip was slipping from the rifle, this was it.

The rifle was successfully dislodged and the cougar struck down at his throat, but Bill wasn't going to let himself die so easily. He grabbed onto the jaws of the big cat and held them as far away from his throat as possible, the strength of this animal was incredible and he wouldn't be able to hold the jaws away for long. They were mere inches away from his neck, he could feel the saliva dripping on it as the teeth were slightly pointing into it.

"Fuck!" Bill exclaimed out in horror, fearing that this is where he would die. He kicked and thrashed around in horror while trying to frantically to save his own life. The cougar hissed once again and retracted it's claws, ready to end this futile struggle.

Then, when hope seems lost, the blade of what seemed to be an axe, slammed into the side of the cougar's skull. The big cat stopped moving violently and it fell to the side while painfully growling loudly, Bill rolled away from it as far as he could. Indians could be heard rushing into the scene, horseback with weapons drawn. The prizefighter recognized one of them from the Sisika Raid from not too long ago, his mouth hung agape as what was once just three native american men, now a huge tribe was circled around him.

"I remember you three, you guys helped us out at Sisika. I thank you for saving me." Bill Pierce said with a sigh of relief, being helped up by FireMaker.

"It is great to see you again, as you can see we are no longer just three men, but we are an entire tribe now. We've settled beyond the boundaries of this entire state, we are off the map. It is a place where no law hunts for us, it is why we are still here. Had we lingered around in the general area of Sisika, we would all have been hanged by now. We want to join your gang."

Bill was taken aback when he heard the chief say that his entire tribe wanted to join the Marston Gang, it would be a stupid idea to move their tribe into an environment in which they weren't used to at all.

"It is a mistake to join us, we have since moved away from our previous camp to the Grizzlies Mountains and the Redemption Mountains, we split up to hide ourselves from the law. To make matters worse, The governor of this entire state has issued a crackdown on all gangs and potential members. So now they have random squads of police stalking and hunting around, I just recently fled from a squad and escaped with luck." Bill explained to the tribe in full detail of what had gone down since he had last seen the three chiefs.

"Hey, no worries. You can join us, if you'd like to. The entire gang can join us as long as they don't rat us out or turn us into the law. One member is back at the camp, he guards the place. His name is Ahote. We leave our area to hunt for food or go scavenging for the plants of the land, I see that you have some deer meat on the ground right there."

Bill was quick to intervene with the tribe taking away the carcasses of the deer he had just skinned, walking over to them and standing over them in a protective manner.

"I don't think so, I have to feed my own tribe. Or should I say my own half of the entire gang, we live in the unforgiving cold. We use the hides and pelts of these deer for good use, we can make warm clothing out of them all. Food and pelts are scarce, the only large animals that shows up is nothing but elk. There is rarely a bear up there, so I have to move down into these forests and hunt for them. I'm terribly sorry, but Mr. Marston isn't going to be happy if members of my half start dying up here."

"I understand completely, if you and your gang ever form into one massive militia. Come back to see us at what we call 'star land' and it is a nice place devoid of law."

"Much obliged."

Bill continued on with his hunting, there was no more problems aside from that cougar that he had just been saved from. That was by mere luck, if he had been attacked again, the prized fighter of Saint Denis might have not lived.

The coming weeks for the Marston Gang, would be the best time for information. As Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre would soon discover by luck.


	28. Big things in small packages

(Chapter 28: Big things in small packages)

An entire day had passed since the ordeal between Bill Pierce and the law enforcement squadron that had almost arrested him, he still wore the scars and bite marks from the cougar that had attacked him mere minutes after he escaped the law. He now approached the gunsmith at Annsesburg, right across the bridge over the Lannaheechee River.

"Hello there, what items do you need today?" The gunsmith asked, standing behind the counter while keeping his eyes on Bill Pierce.

"I've come to get bigger guns, I got attacked by a cougar yesterday and it almost killed me. I also might need some gun oil to clean up the weapons I already have." Bill answered, looking at the shelves to see what was in stock or on display.

"Darn, that sounds like one hell of a mess. How much gun oil do you need?"

"I need 3 bottles of it, that is all I really need."

Bill took three bottles of gun oil and approached the counter, placing them down before going to look for his gun of choice. His eyes were set upon a sawed off shotgun, two of them were on display on the counter nearby. The prizefighter of Saint Denis figured that he would be more menacing and respect commanding with dual wielded sawed off shotguns.

The prized fighter slapped his pockets to feel if he had any money, he only had twenty four dollars for the pelts he turned in for profit yesterday afternoon. Bill Pierce placed down the two sawed off shotguns on the counter before the gunsmith and handed in the twenty four dollars that he had.

"Well, partner, this isn't going to be enough for three gun oil bottles and dual sawed off guns. Come back next time with some more money and perhaps you can buy all of this."

"Listen, I don't have time. I am in a rush, can you lend me these items for free?" Bill asked in response to the smith, the gunsmith's expression shown a look of annoyance.

"You need to give me money my friend, nothing in this world is free."

Bill answered by leaning over the counter and snagging the gunsmith by the collar of his shirt from out of nowhere, yanking him over the counter and onto the floor. The gunsmith grunted in pain and struck at Bill's legs, the feeble punches did nothing to the prizefighter.

"I am in a rush for time, I've got a family to help." Bill growled as he forcefully jerked the clerk up and nailed him with a brutal right hand that knocked him out cold. Now the fourth in command leader of the Marston Gang could take anything he wanted for free.

Bill decided to be sneaky and rob the drawers for any money that he could potentially gain, he was able to get away with two hundred dollars worth of cash. His pockets were stuffed with money, and now he had two powerful guns at his disposal. An arrogant grin cracked on his lips as he marched out of the store, leaving the gunsmith on the floor to wake up hours later.

Around an hour later, Bill returned to Colter with two hundred dollars all with a cocky grin on his face. He felt more powerful than Jack's half of the gang now due to the reason that he had essentially performed the first robbery, sure it wasn't a great amount, but it was still the first one.

When Bill returned, he had seen a few people hard at work, building up some extra buildings in the cold. Some were eating some cooked deer meat by a fireplace, others were doing their own things to contribute to Bill's half of the gang.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I've got some good news. I just brought home two hundred dollars from a gun store, the clerk wouldn't comply with me and I had to knock him out. No one was near the store and it was all too easy." This got a few people to cheer, others gave him a nod of respect.

The reality dawned on Bill that if he was ever to return to Annseburgh, he would instantly become wanted. His face would be seen all over posters, he didn't want to go back down into that settlement unless absolutely necessary. He was glad that he got away with the robbery, he sat down under his tent with a happy smile on his face.

"I'm not useless." Bill repeated to himself twice as he looked at the wad of cash in his gloved hands, his heart and mind only getting more satisfied the more he looked at it.

Meanwhile, Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre were walking down the streets of Blackwater to take a break from building the new Cochinay base. The two were holding hands, they had officially became a couple overnight. They had sat uptop a cliff, the same cliff that Dutch fell off of in 1911. The two were looking up at the moon, speaking about their pasts and goals. Eventually a kiss was made when the moon was highest in the blackened sky, to celebrate the beginning of their relationship, they went to the Blackwater Theatre to watch a vaudeville show.

The couple made sure to be silent as they walked through Blackwater, they didn't want no law enforcement to hear their voices. Once they got inside of the theatre, the couple sat on the balcony. The two were the only ones at the balcony, everyone else was on the first floor. Jack put an arm around Rebecca's shoulder and gave her a happy smile.

"Rebecca, I am so proud of how long and how far we have made it. We have survived in desperate situations, we've fought our way out of danger. Yet here we are, alive and well. I am so proud of you, you've taken so much pain and damage through your years at Saint Denis. How you ride with my crazy gang is beyond me, but I love the fact that you stand by my side."

"As I am proud to stand by your side as well, dearest Jack."

"So, are you ready to rob your first bank? It won't be a big score, but it will be a small amount that is good for a first time. We're gonna put that money to good use too, we've been doing a great job at keeping our gang healthy and strong."

"Yes, but will you tell us when we need to do something or when the gang is in potential trouble?"

"Of course I will, I need to know what will happen. You and I, we decide our fates." Jack answered with an encouraging smile on his face, then patting Rebecca on the back.

Light briefly filled up the auditorium up as the doors opened up, Jack and Rebecca looked down with curiosity only to see a few men in all black clothing walk right in and selected a spot to sit at. Jack instantly recognized one of them as Shaw, one of the leaders of the BlackJacks.

"Ah damn, we can't have any peace or love to ourselves when we want it." Rebecca cursed silently, the couple then heard a gun click and the sound of boots approaching the curtain behind them. The gunslinger and the irishman gave each other a nod, both ready to defend themselves.

Jack whipped out a knife and so did Rebecca, the two approached the black curtain, the footsteps got louder, which only meant they were getting closer. The two leaders of the Marston Gang were sure to stay quiet, so they could determine if this approaching threat was really BlackJacks.

"Those sons of bitches are probably gonna be here, we've been looking for them all day." A voice was heard complaining on the other side of the curtain, thus confirming that these people were BlackJacks. The sounds of cheering and clapping, even booing of the audience to the performer on stage; was blurred out as the two were so focused on what would happen when those curtains would open. The silence was intense, and then the curtains swung open. Jack instantly struck forth with his knife penetrating the stomach of the random BlackJack member, he then used the curtain to blur out the screams of pain.

Rebecca used the curtain to wrap up the BlackJack member, there was a gunshot that broke through the curtain, missing the irishman. This alerted the audience and the other members of the BlackJacks downstairs that a struggle was going on in the balcony, everyone screamed in horror and started to flee from the theatre as Shaw and two other men headed for the stairs down the hall. Jack decided to help out Rebecca by tackling the struggling BlackJack member from behind and throwing him off of the balcony, he went falling down into the auditorium, crushing some people underneath him.

The BlackJack member that had been stabbed was slowly getting up to his feet, he had dropped his revolver. Rebecca was fast to end him with a quick shot to the head, but she still wasn't done. She picked up the body and charged it towards the stairs, only releasing it when it slammed through the banister and fell down on Shaw and the two other members.

"We need to get the hell outta here, we must move!" Rebecca screamed as she stood where the banister once was, both her and Jack firing down upon Shaw and the two BlackJacks. Not giving them any room to breathe.

"I know that." Jack responded calmly, trying to think of a way to escape.

"Well, do you have any ideas, love?"

"Police crackdown is still in effect, they will be all over this theatre in a matter of minutes. We need to escape through the rooftops. Running through the streets will get us both killed." Jack explained, turning back to the balcony and then climbing up a ladder that was against the wall.

"Follow me, darling!" Jack called out, getting Rebecca to follow him up the ladder on to the rooftop of the theatre. This gave them a good lookout over Blackwater, the large buildings within this town were right next to each other. This would allow them to traverse along the rooftops within Blackwater, but they would eventually be stopped. Law enforcement was descending upon the theatre.

"Find them sons of bitches!" a police officer was heard giving orders, Rebecca and Jack got onto their stomachs so no one would see them up on the roof.

"What now, we are fucked." Rebecca said, her voice sounded fearful. Jack shook his head, staying calm and confident in this sticky situation that they had found themselves in.

At the entrance of Blackwater, up the hill by the church, a small posse of Marston Gang members rushed in on horseback, rifles trained on police officers and BlackJack members alike. Explosive gunshots burst out and echoed across the streets of Blackwater, civilians started to panic and flee to wherever they could.

"Here comes the cavalry." Jack chuckled, several BlackJacks were downed as they tried to find a way to scale to the roofs in order to get a good vantage point, after around five BlackJacks were put down, they started to turn around and fight back. At the same time, a BlackJack and a Marston Gang member was shot dead. Bullets were flying in the streets with several civilians getting hurt in the process.

Jack and Rebecca were using their firearms to down some BlackJacks with headshots from above, some it took two hits to kill due to the headshots missing. Bodies were dropping into the streets second by second, chaos unfolding within Blackwater.

"Up there on the rooftops, kill them!" Shaw was heard, a bullet flew right by Rebecca's head moments later, startling her, causing her to fall back into Jack's arms. The Irishman looked up at Jack and gave him a sweet smile after he caught her when she fell.

"Thank you, dearly." She goes before getting back to her vertical base, the gunslinger and the Irish ass kicker began to fire their pistols down towards the streets again, the police were making their presence felt now as they started to kill BlackJacks and Marston Gang members left and right.

Shaw was ready to end things as he marched into an alleyway, getting away from the carnage in the streets as twenty one people had already been shot dead. He came out to another street where he seen four cops riding on horses, blowing whistles as they rushed to the scene of the massive gunfight in which was underway. He saw a ladder to his right after taking cover behind a pile of boxes so the lawmen wouldn't see him.

A smirk grew on his face as he could hear Jack and Rebecca talking far above his head, it was very faint but he could make out their distinctive voices that he remembered from when they ambushed the two at Beecher's Hope at the dawn of the Marston Gang.

"Now, Rebecca. We need to move. The police and the BlackJacks are distracted, it is practically gang warfare. That is only a small amount of our gunmen and gun women, this is our only shot." Jack explained, Rebecca nodded her head as they started for the ladder only to see Shaw standing at it with a sawed off shotgun aimed at the two of them.

"You two aren't going anywhere, you've gotta get through me first." Shaw growled, placing his finger on the trigger of the sawed off.

"Look, we don't want any trouble. Let us get out of here without this escalating any furth-" Jack's sentence was cut off when Rebecca fired her revolver with lightning fast speed, quickdraw. The bullet went right into the gut of Shaw, causing him to drop his sawed off to the floor.

Shaw fell to one knee and reached down for his sawed off again, but Rebecca finished him off with a quick shot to the head from her revolver again, another lightning fast shot from the irishman. Jack's eyes widened, he was impressed with his partner and he sarcastically clapped.

"Let's move Jackie, we can't stay up here any longer." Rebecca suggested, the two of them climbed down the ladder after finishing off one of the few BlackJack generals. They crouched down into a low walking position, creeping silently to go undetected by the lawmen.

"As soon as we hit the road and not grass, we whistle for our horses and haul ass back to camp, got that?" Jack asked, as the two carefully approached the end of the alleyway.

Rebecca nodded her head in agreement, once the two made it out into the road, Jack blew the whistle and so did Rebecca. They could hear large amounts of gunfire and screaming going on in the streets all around them, freedom was just ahead of them though.

The horses of the couple bolted into view, the top two leaders of the Marston Gang dashed forth towards their horses, fearing more lawmen would come after them if they had stalled any longer. Jack was first to make it onto his horse, followed by Rebecca.

"Follow me!" He exclaimed as he gave his horse a good tugging on the reins, the white arabian horse darting out of Blackwater and towards the heartlands. Rebecca rushed after him on her horse as well, Jack knew the area well through his travels before he gave life to his gang.

He took a sharp left turn and then a sharp right turn, his horse running down the hill with Rebecca following close behind. The two of them fled Blackwater, not looking back, not even once.

Later on that day, Jack and Rebecca was at Cochinay. Helping each other build a new segment of the large camp, suddenly, the two of them heard their names being called to their lodging in which they had constructed a few weeks ago.

Jack had sent Dred and Tonya scouting in Blackwater, hours after the shootout. They came back with some good information about their bank robbery in which was soon to unfurl within the next forty eight hours.

"We have some information about our robbery. There is a newly built bank over by the docks, right next to the Flat Iron Lake. It had just recently finished construction two weeks ago, money from Saint Denis is coming to Blackwater to help fund the expansion of the town into a city. According to word of mouth, it should arrive via ferry." Dred explained, revealing the info to the top two leaders of the Marston Gang.

"Excellent. I say it is time we all rest up, because our robbery will be tomorrow. I will tell you all my official plan once we arrive, but here is basically how I see things unfolding. We will need scouts to let us know when the ferry is approaching, once this happens, a few of us will go on the ferry, disguised as citizens riding up towards Saint Denis. That is currently all I can think of, it is best if we rest now. This will be our first robbery, so we should pray and hope for the best of us and the best of others tomorrow. I don't want to kill any innocents, so we should not aim to cause harm!" Jack spoke loudly, after several weeks and a few months of constant movement, the gang is finally about to rob their first bank..


	29. The bank robbery

(Chapter 29: The bank robbery)

It was the next day and the Marston Gang was riding towards Saint Denis to hitch a ride on the ferry boat containing copious amounts of American currency. Bill's half of the gang was tasked with overlooking Blackwater, they were not as suspicious in appearance as Jack Marston's half.

A sense of pride yet worry was in the heart and mind of Bill Pierce, he didn't sign up to be in a gang that would kill and rob people, but he would do anything to get his amount of money at the end of the day. Confidence remained high in Jack Marston, he felt that the gang had overcome a good slew of obstacles already and business was booming. Today was going to be a big day for the gang, whether the bank robbery goes south or whether it plays out perfectly, he would still be proud of the things they had accomplished.

The son of the legendary outlaw John Marston knew that law would be a huge presence in Blackwater, especially after the events that happened only yesterday when he and his love were attacked at the theatre. Nothing good came out of that day, the lovers were attacked by a rival gang and pressured by the lawmen, they managed to kill an important figure in the BlackJacks gang, but it would only piss them off further.

He kept troubling issues in the back of his head as the many hooves of the horses pounded into the dirt road path. With BlackJacks and lawmen patrolling Blackwater, Jack brought along several of his gang, not all of them, he didn't want to make a scene when they first arrived.

Finally, the large arch that hung over the bridge could be seen in the distance. Jack Marston's squadron of gunmen and gun-women emerged from the swamps, passing by a few gators in the process and some feral hogs. Saint Denis was the same, just as Jack had seen it when he was briefly in the fighting pits, where his journey and tale began.

"This has been a long time coming ladies and gentlemen, remain strong and confident, harden those hearts within your chests. No matter what the outcome is, I am happy at how far we all have come along. Bill Pierce is handling things down South in Blackwater, have faith in that man, he ain't the smartest of people ya know!" Jack shouted with a chuckle along with his crewmates, poking fun at Bill Pierce once more, luckily the prizefighter wasn't there to hear this defamation.

Down in Blackwater, Bill Pierce stood on the docks, patiently waiting for the ferry to come strolling towards them. A cool breeze blew through his growing hair that began to get longer, getting down to the bottom of his neck in terms of length for the amount of time he had been growing it. A beard was starting to grow too, the prizefighter wore casual civilian clothing to disguise himself among the Blackwater citizens.

His brown eyes glanced from left to ride, scanning his surroundings. Lawmen were everywhere, including some BlackJacks. Thankfully for Bill, Markus Van Der Linde wasn't one of those people in the area at the time. The bank was not too far away from where the former champion of Saint Denis stood, it was a small bank but enough to suffice in the eyes of Jack Marston.

It was a peaceful, beautiful sunny day. Not a cloud was in the sky, Bill sighed as he knew it would get ugly when the ferry containing the money would arrive. Seagulls chirped as they flew through the air, some of the white birds pecked at crumbs and bread scattered on the streets.

Bill discovered that Blackwater was indeed a growing boom town, it was much larger than it once was. Expanding further North and plans for a bridge had been underway, a large bridge to cross the Flat Iron Lake. The prizefighter couldn't wait for the bridge to be complete, it would make journeys much more short than they needed to be. What could be done within a few hours could be done within just a few minutes. As he stood there and thought of what to do when the time of the robbery arises, the prizefighter overheard a familiar voice, it was Douglas Mulligan, leader of the BlackJacks.

"Shaw died to an irish whore and a Godless outlaw, how unfortunate." Douglas was overheard saying to Nicholas Lanza, referencing how Shaw had died yesterday during the failed attempt at capturing the Marston Gang leaders.

"He was a real fighter, could have done us wonders." Nicholas answered with a sigh.

"Shaw was disposable at best, he didn't do a damn thing during his time in the gang. He was just there tagging along." Douglas growled, he held disdain for people who didn't work hard in his gang.

"You treated him with care during his early years in the gang, what happened to your care?" Nicholas asked with a raised eyebrow, a look of confusion on his face.

"I helped him to get on his feet, and when he did get to his feet, he only got us into trouble time and time again. When shit got started up, he was never there to help. His attempts to help have always been in vain and was always in vain."

"Perhaps we shouldn't have let the Marstons run, we shouldn't have given them a day. We could have killed them back in Mexico. Now look where we are, we lost an important member to our gang and we don't know where the hell they are."

"Shaw was not important in even the slightest bit, I thought those Marston fools would be tired and worn out by the time we got back. They've proven to be much more than we originally thought."

"Old Man Jonas would have them all killed when we first had them, you promised to be like Jonas. Where did that legacy go?"

"To Hell with Old Man Jonas and his legacy, I am in control. I've been in control, it is under my vision that Jack Marston will die. It is under my vision that we will cross the Atlantic and get to Europe, away from this dying country. His legacy died along with him, leaving all of our former history beyond the Grizzlies."

Nicholas Lanza shook his head in disbelief and walked away, Bill Pierce had overheard everything and chuckled to himself silently. Even the BlackJacks were having some squabbles just as The Marstons did.

Douglas Mulligan seethed as Nicholas walked away because he knew that Lanza was right. All of this could have been avoided had they stayed in the MidWest, but fate drove them away, the leader of the BlackJacks felt that fate was driving him to his unfortunate destiny even as he tried his damndest to avoid it.

"Feeling the pressure of being a leader on you, cowboy?" A familiar soothing voice spoke from behind Douglas, the BlackJack leader turned to see the Strange Man once again. The same man from Mexico took him by surprise.

"Why do you keep showing up? I want an answer."

"I follow everyone I'm close with, it is sort of a duty of mine. I share the same duty with everyone at some point in their life, some sooner rather than later and some later rather than sooner, but everyone sees me."

"Quit speaking in damn riddles, what is your name…"

"That is the most damndest thing my friend, I'm cursed to not know my own name. Quite tragic, isn't it?"

Douglas had enough of the Strange Man not answering him and instead speaking in mysterious riddles, this man had been in the head of the BlackJack leader ever since Mexico and was also one of the reasons he was trying to kill Jack Marston as soon as possible.

"Damn you, stop following me."

"Many have, my friend, oh yes, many have damned me before and they will again. You've painted a rather foul picture across the canvas of this country plagued with hardships, Jonas isn't proud of your actions. Nicholas is right, you're forgetting important people."

"Go the Hell away."

"As you wish, Douglas Mulligan," The Strange Man spoke before he whistled for a horse. From around the corner of a building, it was a rather pale horse, it appeared weak, but the hooves were heavy as they slammed into the pavement. Scorch marks appeared to be left behind in the pavement as the horse trotted towards the Strange Man, as if Hell was following it.

"But I will see you again, as I always do. Don't worry, for when you see me again, it shall be the last time you see me." The Man continued before riding away, his pale horse neighing as he rounded the corner. Douglas followed the movement of the horse as it rounded the corner, when it supposedly passed the alley way from which the BlackJack leader could see him, he had vanished without a trace.

Bill Pierce looked confused, it seemed that Douglas Mulligan was talking to thin air. As if he was speaking to someone invisible, the prizefighter began to ponder if the leader of the BlackJacks was going insane.

Douglas began to walk away from his section of the docks with a cigar in his hands, he lit the cancer stick up as he walked down the street towards the BlackWater Saloon for a recreational smoke session.

"No one has a say in my future, that man is never going to see me again. I'll go to a place where he'll never expect to find me." Douglas muttered to himself as he walked in through the double doors, out of the prizefigher's sight.

(A few hours later)

Bill Pierce had been setting up the stage for the robbery, his gunmen and gun-women patrolling the streets. The ammunition and guns had been stockpiled in a large crate hidden somewhere close to Beecher's Hope, or what remained of it anyway. The prizefighter had a firm belief that Jack Marston could lead his men and women to victory in battle against The BlackJacks and the lawmen, they had all been through so much and the gang had only gotten even larger with an extreme amount of men and women.

A loud horn was heard from afar and Bill Pierce saw the ferry pulling towards the docks thanks to his binoculars. It was time to prepare.

From within the ferry, Jack Marston followed a guard towards the safe. The Marston leader wore a disguise of a guard, Rebecca McIntyre followed along with a revolver in her hand. Once they entered the safe room, Jack Marston placed the muzzle of the pistol against the back of the guard's head.

"Open them up, all of them." Jack commanded in a calm yet serious tone, pulling back the hammer of the pistol and wrapping his finger around the trigger. The guard laughed and took the butt of his rifle, jerking it back to slam into the gut of the Marston leader. He let out a grunt and fell to one knee, but Rebecca quickly shot the guard into the small of his back.

The guard fell to the ground, he wasn't dead as he turned around with the rifle tight in his grasp. Jack downed the guard with a shot to the jaw, tearing right through the head. Jack growled in pain as he rose back up to his feet, he looked over his shoulder to see the door wide open.

"Close it." Jack ordered to his girlfriend in Rebecca McIntyre, she did as was told, closing the iron door with a loud bang. It wasn't locked at all, so they weren't out of the woods just yet.

Using the dead eye ability, Jack and Rebecca opened up the locks by firing at them to open up the safes. Loads of money, precisely two thousand dollars worth of money in total. The two leaders loaded up the bags of money, suddenly the iron door opened and a guard was there.

The guard saw the bandanas covering up the faces of Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre, the guard instantly took aim at Jack with his rifle. Suddenly, the head of the guard practically exploded when two loud booms rang out, his head was blown up via a double barreled shotgun from Dred Jackson. This caused the entire capacity within the ferry to panic, civilians who went along for the ride began to scream and stumble over themselves. Guards and lawmen within the ferry instantly knew something had gone bad.

Fireworks launched high into the air from the ferry, it was to alert the people of Blackwater in which were oblivious to what was going on within the boat. A few lawmen took this differently and instantly made a break for the boat, pistols tight in their hands.

Whistles were blowing from these deputies, alarming the citizens of Blackwater but chaos didn't ensue just yet. Two deputies approached the door of the ferry until it swung open with a bang, taking both of them out and knocking them to the ground. Scrambling and fleeing civilians trampled the deputies to death as they made frantic moves to escape the Marston Gang as gunfire could be heard from within.

Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntrye emerged in the crowd of fleeing individuals with Dred Jackson and Tonya opening fire at the coming lawmen behind them. Now the civilians of Blackwater began to scramble out in the streets as they saw the chaos exploding out from the ferry.

Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza saw what was going on from the rooftops, fifteen of the BlackJacks were also camping out on the tops of buildings. The leader of them all, Douglas, seen Jack amongst the crowd as he saw Rebecca McIntyre alongside him with two black people downing lawmen in which chased them.

"Down there, Lanza! Marston!" Douglas shouted as he took aim on the outlaw, carcano rifle at the ready. He took in a deep breath, getting calm and focused on the target carrying the bag full of money. Lanza looked down to see them too, and he took aim on Rebecca McIntyre.

Jack Marston and his girlfriend tried to remain hidden but when a civilian suddenly collapsed thanks to a bullet hole in the skull, the leader looked up to see a man in all black clothing and a paragon town hat standing on the rooftops in a crouched stance.

"BlackJacks on the rooftops, move quickly and get low!" Jack shouted as another civilian dropped dead next to him, then all of the BlackJacks in which had tagged along to kill the Marstons emerged from cover with carcano rifles.

"Son of a bitch, look at how many of them there are!" Rebecca screamed as she tucked her head as she ran, Jack glanced up to see multiple more dark clothed figures on the rooftops of Blackwater.

"You die today, Marston!" Douglas screamed as he took aim at the head of Jack, the bullet just missed him.

"Shit." Jack cursed under his breath, his life was damn near taken right then and there. His gang wasn't out of the woods yet as he saw a gunman from his half of the gang collapse thanks to Nicholas Lanza.

"Ladies and gentlemen, get to the alleyways!" The Marston Boy screamed orders, he and Rebecca heading straight for a back alley. Several groups of people flooded out from the ferry and into the streets, some heading for the alleyways and some going around the buildings and into the town. It looked like a warzone.

Jack took cover behind a crate with Rebecca as a few more gunmen and gun-women entered the alley with them, there were three large crates at where they stood.

"We need to stack these up, move quickly."

The group of men and women formed a stack of crates, thick with ammunition for the BlackJacks and that is what made them heavy. They stacked up the crates similar to how one would make a castle of tiny paper cups, this would provide a small amount of shelter for the heads of Jack and Rebecca.

"Cover us." Jack ordered the ten gun wielding men and women of his gang, he and Rebecca got underneath the crate stack and began to make plans.

"We don't have any horses, we left them back in Saint Denis. So what we're gonna have to do is to hold out until Bill Pierce's men and women get here, the cavalry should be here soon." Jack planned.

"What of the money, darling?" Rebecca asked her boyfriend for the two thousand dollars they had in their bags.

"Me and you are going to make our way up to the Blackwater church and hide inside of it, they've been doing some remodeling."

Suddenly, Alonzo, formerly known as the leader of the mexican rebels, rushed in. Taking a stick of dynamite, and hurling it high into the air with a grunt of effort. Three of the fifteen BlackJack gunmen aimed down upon them from the rooftop, Alonzo used the deadeye ability and shot the stick of dynamite right when the fingers of the BlackJack men were wrapped around their rifles.

The stick of dynamite burst, killing the three BlackJacks instantly, sending them flying from where they stood. The Marston leaders rushed towards the Blackwater train station as quickly as they could from where they were, it wasn't far, but the process of going there was dangerous.

"Stick to the alleyways, stay as far away from the streets as we can until we are forced to run for it." Jack said calmly as Rebecca McIntyre, Alonzo, and ten of the Marston Gang running with them in between alleys.

As they ran in the tight spaces, they heard gunshots and gunfire exploding and ringing out all over the place. The noises bouncing off the walls, making them think that they were getting shot at. Eventually they would reach a stopping point, they saw multiple lawmen rush past them without being noticed.

"Go!" Jack shouted as he made a break for it out of the alleyway and into the street, Rebecca followed after him. Alonzo followed third with the ten others, a whistle was heard blowing and Jack instantly turned around to see two lawmen riding up towards them on horseback.

Rebecca looked down the street heading towards the Flat Iron Lake to see three more lawmen coming, Alonzo turned his back to see almost all of the fifteen BlackJacks aiming down at them. Jack Marston managed to take out the two lawmen with his deadeye and Rebecca was able to down the three other lawmen with her deadeye.

Alonzo had deadeye but it wouldn't last as long as Jack or Rebecca's, the ten other Marstons had no deadeye at all. They aimed up at the BlackJacks and fired at the fifteen of them, two of them were taken out but then around four of the Marstons fell, Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza made their way over to the rooftop in which the thirteen BlackJack snipers stood at.

Jack looked in the distance to his right and could see a train coming in from afar, he instantly rushed towards the train tracks, the timing would have to be perfect and it would be a gutsy move. Rebecca seemed to be moving faster than Jack as she rushed past him, getting closer to the train tracks as the train itself got closer.

Jack slowed down but continued running for a moment to look over his shoulder, several lawmen were rushing from all the way at the end of the street from all angles. The poor gunmen and gun-women would all be captured or killed, including Alonzo due to the overwhelming amounts of lawmen.

One of the lawmen in which was riding towards Jack and his crew was none other than Archer Fordham himself, eyes narrowed in pure hatred for the Marston Boy. Four more of the Marstons collapsed dead and three more fell dead on top of the roof from the BlackJacks

Time seemed to slow down for Alonzo as lawmen closed in and more of the Marstons fell dead on the ground with a thud. It was just Alonzo and two other Marston gunmen standing tall with Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre fleeing the scene. The three stood against ten BlackJacks, as they began to reload, Alonzo used his deadeye, taking aim on as many as he could.

There was one more BlackJack, or there was one mar man dressed in dark clothing. This man wore a tophat and had a curled mustache. It was the Strange Man that Douglas had continued to see, except Douglas couldn't see him this time around.

The Strange Man looked down at his wrist, there seemed to be a watch on it and then Douglas Mulligan emerged out from behind him with a carcano rifle, putting down Alonzo with a shot to the head. The two Marston gunmen were dropped dead within seconds thanks to the rushing lawmen, ten more gunmen remained in the town in which they had come along for the ferry trip. There were several more of them back at Cochinay.

Jack continued to run, getting closer and closer to the train tracks, but at the same time, the train was getting closer at a more rapid rate. After a few more seconds passed, Rebecca managed to dart over the tracks and make it to the other side while Jack would seem to be unlucky.

The outlaw had to dig in deep, he let out a scream of effort as he ran as fast as he could. Almost as if he received a speed boost, the train kept coming and coming as he got closer to the tracks. His heart was racing in his chest and Rebecca screamed as the lawmen were riding up behind him on horseback.

Finally, Jack was within five feet and the train right about to pass Jack by. It would be a huge risk, he decided to lunge over the tracks for a huge leap. Sending himself flying, it was way too close to call. As soon as Jack's boots made it to the other side of the track and went over, the train roared by. If Jack was just a second too late, he would've been killed for sure.

The rushing train provided a barrier between the lawmen on the other side and for Jack and Rebecca. The outlaw still had to get out of there as fast as he could, he pointed up the hill towards the church as the train began to slow down. The two leaders rushed up the hill as fast as they could, but Jack quickly forgot about two people and that came to his senses. Dred Jackson and Tonya…

Jack's eyes widened when he came to that realization, he turned towards the train and from his position on the hill, he could see several lawmen getting downed by several Marston Gang members. Dred and Tonya absolutely unloading on the lawmen, Archer Fordham was quick to retreat. Dred mowed down the lawmen in which surrounded the remaining gunmen of the Marston gang, Tonya took out the BlackJacks in which stood on the rooftops.

Jack Marston and Rebecca McIntyre stood impressed at what they were seeing. However things went too quiet, other than the sounds of doors slamming and regular civilians panicking. The Marstons took aim up at Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza, causing them to back up to get away from the guns of the Marston gunmen.

The strange thing was, the BlackJack leaders didn't seem to be afraid or nervous in terms of the way they stepped back and surrendered. Their facial expressions seemed to show a rather arrogant grin, as if they knew something that the Marston gunmen and Dred Jackson along with Tonya, didn't know.

The sounds of horses neighing could be heard faintly, but they got even louder than before. Silhouettes emerged from around the buildings of Blackwater and from lands away from the town, these were deputies from the Heartlands, from the town of Valentine and Strawberry. The question still remained, how in the world did they arrive so quickly? It was almost as if this was a set up.

Jack and Rebecca appeared shocked as the deputies rushed towards the spot in which the gunmen and the two other leaders stood. Dred and Tonya seemed to appear frantic as they bolted towards the alleyways in attempt to escape the lawmen, the gunmen managed to take down a few of them but eventually the numbers game caught up with them.

Once the gunmen knew they had no chance, they took a mad dash towards the alleyways along with Dred and Tonya. Jack knew that they wouldn't last long, he had to call upon the help of Bill Pierce. The problem was, he was expecting Bill and his gunmen to be within the city, however, he was nowhere to be seen.

Rebecca looked over at Jack to see a defeated look in his eyes, this lowered her confidence way down. The head leader of the Marston Gang didn't know what to do, at this point, there was nowhere to run. This would be the end of what was once a booming gang.

Jack and Rebecca took the bags of money, and marched right back into the town of Blackwater. Eventually Archer Fordham appeared out from a back alley with Dred Jackson and Tonya beaten and bloody with all twenty of the gunmen as well. A satisfied smile crossed the lips of Archer, the Marstons were surrendering.

Every member in the Marston Gang was forced onto their knees before Archer, several outlaws already brought down to their knees and they hadn't even completed a successful bank robbery yet. The head of the FBI in West Elizabeth backed up, ordering the cavalry from Valentine and Strawberry to line up with their guns trained on these outlaws.

"Any last words?" Archer asked, as if he didn't want this to be a tragic ending, he wanted it quick and merciless.

"Outlaws to the end, you will regret this, and you'll be lucky if you get me here." Jack said sternly, staring a hole right through Archer Fordham.

"Very well, boys, you know what to d-" From out of nowhere, Archer collapsed dead with a wound in between his eyes. The cavalry panicked and darted away from the gunmen along with Jack and Rebecca, the gunmen took out revolvers from their holsters, it was their secondary weapon.

To keep the police cavalry at bay, the gunmen and Jack Marston, along with Rebecca McIntyre, unloaded their cattleman revolvers upon them. Jack got up to his feet and looked over the door, from the hill leading down into Blackwater, rushed Bill Pierce and his half of the gang. The horses jumped in between the train carts and emerged on the other side. Thirty riders with only one of them on the backs of the horses, the cavalry knew that they couldn't do anything against the overwhelming numbers now.

The Marston Gang fled the scene with several corpses lying scattered around Blackwater. Some in the streets, some in the alleyways. Their first robbery a successful one, now Bill Pierce and his half of the gang was free to come to Cochinay. Celebration was a guarantee!

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**A/N: Hello to all! As you know, I have seemed to discontinue this story for a bit but now I hope to get back into the swing of things around here. I have been busy with my Custom Monsterverse series and I've been so engrossed with that series that I've lost care for this story. Thankfully, I am starting to get more and more ideas for this story and a drive to continue it. Sorry for how long the wait was for this new chapter, feel free to leave a review on how you are liking or disliking the story so far and perhaps you can PM me for some extra ideas. Have a nice day or night and stay safe wherever you are!**


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